What is the national dish/meal for each country? Link with yummy pictures inside

[dullard]

I don't get the hamburger for the US. I think steal so much food from other countries i don't think of anything is American.

You can say that about lots of foods around the world though. Pizza for example is called Italian, but it usually has tomatoes which are from the Americas. Indian dishes use chilis which came from Portugal which came from the Americas but often uses a lot of influence from England (Indian vindaloo is a really common dish in restaurants but vindaloo is based on a Portugese dish pronounced almost the same way).

Trade has been around for so long that it is nearly impossible to assign a food to JUST a single country. Instead, you have to assign a food to what a country latched on to and perfected.

 

[dullard]

The Greece gyro is my staple here in the U.S!

I've been in multiple places all over Greece and only once found a gyro on a menu (they were out so I couldn't order it). I was disappointed, but other Greek food is still quite tasty. I get the impression that the gyro is much more Turkish than Greek in actual current consumption.

 

[dullard]

As the resident South African, I suppose I agree with biltong being our most stereotypical food. Other choices would have been braaivleis (meat barbecued on a charcoal grill), potjiekos (stew cooked slowly over a fire in a three legged cast iron pot) or milk tart (light custard tart).

I've only been to South Africa 4 times, but I would agree with you that biltong and braai (and pap) are the stereotypical foods. It is hard to really give South Africa any particular dish since it is more a blend of cultures than even American food is. It is like you took the best of everything (meats, wine, Asian spices) and blended them together into quite tasty foods (with the exception of pap which is never good). The restaurants in Cape Town are especially good.

 

[dullard]

taco/burrito for Mexico.

Burritos are much more tex-mex than Mexican. They originated in the "country" between America and Mexico (the ~100 mile wide region that is generally pretty crappy and doesn't really seem either American or Mexican).

 

[clamum]

Yum. A lot of those look pretty good, actually.

I noticed the Goulash from Hungary. My mom makes it (God it is fantastic. Simple dish, but really good) but it looks about like this, except she uses noodles instead of elbow macaroni:

 

[NAC4EV]

USA should be either a steak and baked potato or a roast turkey with the trimmings. I say turkey because it is the traditional meal served at thanksgiving. Of course, in Boston that might be roast duck.

I was expecting a hot dog

 

[KMFJD]

Yum. A lot of those look pretty good, actually.

I noticed the Goulash from Hungary. My mom makes it (God it is fantastic. Simple dish, but really good) but it looks about like this, except she uses noodles instead of elbow macaroni:

agh wtf? noodles in goulash? that's a first for me

 

[DigDog]

Jamaica's national dish is Ackee.

the gov't can say whatever they want brah, but jerk chicken is the actual national dish of jamaica.
have you been to jamaica?

 

[Kwatt]

I was expecting a hot dog

I was expecting Buffalo Wings

.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

agh wtf? noodles in goulash? that's a first for me

It's not unusual at all. When I lived in Germany one of my favorite restaurants was a Hungarian place run by a Hungarian husband and wife. Their goulash had noodles in it. Growing up a family down the street were Hungarian (one of my sisters even married one of their brothers) and they had noodles in the goulash too.

 

[Mai72]

I could go for some Phat Thai tonight.

 

[mmntech]

Canada's national dish is a Tim Hortons' extra large double-double with a stale, buttered, double toasted bagel.

Like the US though, we have a lot of regional cuisines. I don't think there's really one "national dish".

Atlantic Canada: Halifax Donair, which is like a gyro but made with beef instead of lamb. It's served in a pita with diced onions and tomatoes, with a creamy garlic sauce. Of course fresh caught lobster and other seafoods are also a staple out in the Maritimes.

Quebec: Lots of stereotypical Canadian dishes originate from Quebec. Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich, Poutine, Tourtière, French Canadian Pea Soup. It's scientifically impossible to find good poutine outside Quebec.

Ontario: Butter tarts, which are like mini pecan pies. Sometimes they have raisins in the filling. Canadian (peameal) bacon also comes from here. Toronto has a lot of different ethnic cuisines.

The West: Same as Texas. Steak. Ginger beef, which is a staple at Chinese restaurants, originated in Calgary.

Pacific Coast: Salmon of course is the big one. Nanaimo Bars come from here. Wafer crumb base with a butter icing, coated in chocolate. They obviously originate from Nanaimo BC.

 

[clamum]

agh wtf? noodles in goulash? that's a first for me

I definitely ain't a goulash expert, but according to the write-up in the article: "There are many variations on how the hearty dish is cooked, but the traditional recipe includes beef, onions, paprika, tomatoes, green pepper, potatoes, and sometimes noodles." I assume, like most dishes, there's a million ways people make it.

 

[NAC4EV]

THE WORST FOOD EVER - SURSTRÖMMING
A couple of Finlanders trying Swedish cuisine...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmu7bHj81WI

https://youtu.be/wmu7bHj81WI

 

[John Connor]

I've been in multiple places all over Greece and only once found a gyro on a menu (they were out so I couldn't order it). I was disappointed, but other Greek food is still quite tasty. I get the impression that the gyro is much more Turkish than Greek in actual current consumption.

Interesting.

 

[John Connor]

THE WORST FOOD EVER - SURSTRÖMMING
A couple of Finlanders trying Swedish cuisine...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmu7bHj81WI

https://youtu.be/wmu7bHj81WI

OMG! LOL ROFL! I have tears in my eyes! HAHAHAHAHA

 

[Ns1]

THE WORST FOOD EVER - SURSTRÖMMING
A couple of Finlanders trying Swedish cuisine...

Surströmming (pronounced [ˈsʉ̟ːˌʂʈrœmːɪŋ], Swedish for "soured herring"), is fermented Baltic Sea herring that has been a staple of traditional northern Swedish cuisine since at least the 16th century.

Just enough salt is used to prevent the raw fish from rotting (chemical decomposition). A fermentation process (which converts sugar to acids, gases, and alcohol) of at least six months gives the lightly-salted fish its characteristic strong smell and somewhat acidic taste.

When opened, the contents release a strong and sometimes overwhelming odour; the dish is ordinarily eaten outdoors. According to a Japanese study, a newly opened can of surströmming has one of the most putrid food smells in the world, even more so than similarly fermented fish dishes such as the Korean Hongeohoe or Japanese Kusaya.[1]

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I dated a girl from Denmark decades ago. She told me she missed the fish head stew but it sounded more like a casserole. It was a Christmas meal.

 

[Ns1]

I dated a girl from Denmark decades ago. She told me she missed the fish head stew but it sounded more like a casserole. It was a Christmas meal.

fish head stew is pretty common in many parts of the world.

 

[John Connor]

The only nasty "fish" food I ate was I dipped some rice paper Asian thing in fish blood and ate it. That was when I was in the fourth or fifth grade. It wasn't bad. Nice and salty. LOL

 

[Drako]

LOL @ Canada.

 

[lxskllr]

Maybe this is more to your liking...

Hákarl is traditionally prepared by gutting and beheading a Greenland or sleeper shark and placing it in a shallow hole dug in gravelly sand, with the now cleaned cavity resting on a small mound of sand. The shark is then covered with sand and gravel, and stones are placed on top of the sand in order to press the shark. In this way the fluids are pressed out of the body. The shark ferments in this fashion for 6–12 weeks depending on the season.

Following this curing period, the shark is then cut into strips and hung to dry for several months. During this drying period a brown crust will develop, which is removed prior to cutting the shark into small pieces and serving. The modern method is just to press the shark's meat in a large drained plastic container.[5]

It is possible to witness the traditional preparation process at Bjarnarhöfn Shark Museum[6] on Snæfellsnes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hákarl

 

[WelshBloke]

THE WORST FOOD EVER - SURSTRÖMMING
A couple of Finlanders trying Swedish cuisine...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmu7bHj81WI

https://youtu.be/wmu7bHj81WI

I've tried that stuff. It smells like death.

 

[Ns1]

Maybe this is more to your liking...



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hákarl

WTF

Chef Anthony Bourdain described hákarl as "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he has ever eaten.[1]

oh wait, I remember that episode now.

 

[Arcadio]

Nice to see Colombian arepas mentioned.