I'm pretty sure this has been done before, but with the discussion in the Alley around immigration, and with my love of ethnic foods, I’m wondering what everybody’s favorite ethnic food is. For the sake of clarity, I’m defining “ethnic food” as coming not from your country of origin; so for example, a third (or earlier) generation Canadian couldn’t select ‘steak’, and a Japanese-American couldn’t choose sushi.

For me, I’d have to say Vietnamese food. Here in Winnipeg, we have a large number of high-quality, reasonably-priced Vietnamese restaurants, all of which serve wonderful dishes.

So, what are your favorites?

I'm Irish by descent, but my favorite 'ethnic' food comes from clear across the globe -- sushi.

For those of you who don't know where that comes from...well, you probably can't read this anyway.

And do Canadians really get credit for steak? Was a Canadian who first decided to roast some cow flesh and eat it?

If so, I apologize for any appearance of facetiousness in those questions.

My favourite ethnic food would be Japanese. Just the variety is amazing. Then there is the presentation and all the nifty accessories and side dishes. Yakitori is in at the moment. 10/10.

I'd choose a nice Thai Green Curry or some Thai Fried Chicken with Garlic, Oyster Sauce, and Cashew Nuts.

Or maybe Claypot Chicken with Chinese Mushrooms.

I'm all about some good ol' Mexican food. Give me some nice beef tamales with a chili con queso, and I am about as happy as they come. Enchiladas (with green chile sauce - the only way to go!) and Fajitas (I make my own fajita spice) are personal favorites.

Asian foods. Chinese, Thai, Veitnamese, Korean, Japanese, Indonesian, and of course Filipino.

Well, I haven't really tried a lot of different ethnic cuisines as such, I don't ind a bit of Chinese from local restaurants but it's hard to find Chinese done properly. I like a bit of Mexican though. But as for individual dishes, I LOVE Beef Stroganoff (sp?)

Greek cuisine is really nice. Spanokopita (spinach pie) is one of my favorites. Actually just about anything with goat-feta cheese in it is good. Calamari, baklava, tzatziki (that wonderful garlic, dill, and yoghurt sauce), and dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with rice or meat) are all very delicious.

[ June 17, 2004, 08:18: Message edited by: Dragonfly ]

Canadian here, loving Greek and Chinese food. I love that, in Toronto, one can find just about any type of food for a fairly reasonable price.

Another sushi fan here.

Italian. I am a pasta freak.

Indian/Vietnamese/Thai/Cambodian...not entirely sure; but my favourite dish (as I've said elsewhere on the Boards) is the curry chicken on steamed rice served at this one restaurant which advertises the above types of food...

Indian guy here...love Chinese and Italian cuisines. Chinese because it just tastes so good, and um...Italian because that tastes great as well. :p

My fav cuisine is is a mixture of Surinam and Caribbean recipes, such as Roti, Moksi Meti, and Pom.

[ June 17, 2004, 14:45: Message edited by: Pac man ]

Italian and Chinese. Not particularly adventurous, but there you go.

Chinese
Italian
Mexican
Japanese
Indian
Greek

That's an approximate order, and subject to change based on phase of the moon, how long it's been since I've eaten a particular cuisine, what color shirt my husband is wearing, how many time Bushie said "nuculer" in a public broadcast that day...

;) :roll: ;) :roll: ;)

And do Canadians really get credit for steak? No. I just used that as an example because I don't think too many Canadians (or Americans) whose families have been here for a few generations would consider a "standard" steak to be "ethnic" food. Might not have been a good example, though, since in retrospect, I'm not sure how many cultures would consider steak to be an ethnic food.

Mexican
Italian

I used to like Mexican, but ever since beginning to date my wife I have liked it quite a lot more. The fact that she is Mexican and introduced me to real authentic cuisine may have something to do with that. :D

I like Italian food most.

Well, truth be told. Italian is the only foriegn food I can eat.

I only eat sausages and chips with lots of HP.

Nior, you missed two of my favourites: Malaysian and Vietnamese. I'm also a big fan of Indonesian and Thai cooking.

I haven't eaten anything Japanese yet... for some reason. However, I very much enjoy Indian food, Thai food, Chinese food... A couple of Arabic or Turkish dishes that I've eaten.

Greek cuisine is nice, Spanish cuisine is great. Italian is much to my liking... Mexican, yeah... French much less so. OK, French breakfast rules. And vegetable-based dishes. But that's it.

Never eaten anything British, American, Irish, Russian, Scandinavian... for some reason.

Some Polish dishes are great. "Pierogi z kapustą i grzybami", which is kind of big tortellini with sauerkraut and mushroom (boiled, of course). Well, all kinds of such things rule. Some soups that I can't translate into English are also good. Polish cakes are great... Polish girls are quite tasty. That is, if they aren't too salty or too sweet. That would be it.

Polish girls are quite tasty. They count as ethnic cuisine?
Count me in! But perhaps the Scandinavian variety is better.

I have to say that italian food is pretty good. Food like pizza, spaghetti, lasagne, and others belong to my TOP-10 :D

Second that. Italian all the way.

Wow, lots of entries from the East. I with you, but it's hard to pick a favorite. My favorite specific restaurants are Thai, Mandarin and Japanese. But Indian ranks really high too (they closed my favorite Indian place, though). I grew up on Mexican, so I guess that doesn't count as "ethnic" for me, but I like it a lot too. No one has mentioned Brazilian, but there was a wonderful Brazilian place I used to love.

There are also some ethnic foods I really dislike, such as Jamaican (too greasy, too many pieces of bone, etc.) or, even worse, Ethiopian (way too sour, and that bread is gross).

They count as ethnic cuisine?
Count me in! But perhaps the Scandinavian variety is better.Some exchange could be arranged... :D :lol:

I like real chinese (not the flavor enhanced food you get in most chinese restaurants here), indian and greek food.

Scandinavian food is quite scary, if you ask me. Sweet, purple sausages (which probably glow in the dark), sweet mustard and lots of fish. All with tons of preservatives.

Well, i like an italian pizza with cheese, salami, tomato sauce, and some pepper sprayed on it :p

Definately Italian.

@ Fabius:
I like real chinese (not the flavor enhanced food you get in most chinese restaurants here) Agreed! One of our clients is a Chinese group who has monthly meetings at a chinese restaurant, and I get to attend the meetings. They order the "authentic" food, of course, and I have really come to appreciate the cuisine. Plus, I've become pretty good at using chopsticks! :D

Lucky you, Splunge. If I'd try that here, the waiter would probably stare at me thinking "What the heck?" and bring me the regular german chinese food.

I'd be already be happy if they'd leave out that glutamat. It makes all the dishes taste the same.

Chinese, Mexican, Italian... It's all good. But don't underrate the trump card... A great steak. Medium rare, with some sauteed mushrooms and onions, mmmmmmm...

Oh man, now I'm getting hungry.