Cuisines

If you had to choose one cuisine to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be? First of all, what qualifies as a cuisine? i'm going to say that it will be regional. i still have a problem, though. Going to this page on Wikipedia, it seems that there are way more regions than i want to deal with. Who knew there's a Utah cuisine? Apparently, it includes such fine delicacies as fry sauce and jello salad. i think i can cross that off my list. i think i'm just going to have to make up a list of cuisines that i can identify as distinct.

My first instinct is to make good food one cuisine and bad food another. Then my choice is easy. Good food, all the way! But i'll try to be a little more conventional about it. Here goes:

• American - um, what exactly qualifies as American? Philly cheese steaks? New England clam chowder? Pulled pork? Large hunks of beef? Cheap knock offs of every other known food? I'm not even going to try to break it down further - tex mex, southern, northwestern...
• Mexican
• South American - i hate to do this to an entire continent, but i really couldn't tell you where a particular dish is from.
• Chinese - unfortunately, i don't know that much about real Chinese food (or, i suppose, about most of the other foreign cuisines). i only know about the americanized version of it. So that's what i'll use.
• Indian
• Thai
• Japanese
• Vietnamese
• African - again, sorry to the continent of Africa.
• Mediterranean (including Greek)
• Italian - i've actually been to Italy, so i at least have some idea of what this might actually consist of.
• German - ditto
• French
• Spanish
• British - bangers and mash!
• Russian
• Oceanian - i really have no idea what this is, so i'm not actually including it (you don't see it here).

Now we have a list that i can start to narrow down. i'll start by removing ones that i haven't eaten enough to really have a good idea of what i would be getting myself into (or aren't distinctive enough in my mind). That would be South American, African, French and Spanish (really, it's probably all but American, but bear with me). Next is the ones that i just don't prefer on a regular basis. Although beer-battered fish is excellent, it is not enough to save British food. Also, let's remove German and Russian.

Let's see, that leaves me with: American, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mediterranean, Greek and Italian. i think i may be betraying my tastes at this point. Let's just say that if it were food of a continent, Asia would win hands down. But let's narrow down some of those cuisines. i think the first two i would remove would be Chinese and Japanese. i'm also going to remove Mexican, because it just doesn't do it for me.

Now we're down to American, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Mediterranean, and Italian. Let's break it down a little.

American: This would be the easiest because of the wide range of foods, but i'm going to disqualify it because i'm not sure where to cut it off. Besides, it's the boring choice. Maybe it would be the one i actually chose if this were a real choice, but it's not.

Indian: i love Indian food. Excellent range of possibilities, from various curries to great vegetable dishes. Also, excellent rice, and it might be the only Asian cuisine to regularly feature potatoes. i have to say, though, that my favorite thing about Indian food is the naan. A good, hot piece of naan is a great addition to any Indian dish. i'm already making myself hungry. i also love spiciness, and Indian is about as full a spice as you can get. It just builds and builds. No noodles though, and i do like noodles.

Thai: Definitely some excellent noodle dishes. Pad se ew, drunken noodles, pad thai - all excellent dishes. i also think their curries are the best, even though there is less variety in them than the indian ones. They also feature excellent rice dishes. Oh, and i can't forget the thai iced tea. i realize that it has been heavily influenced by European culture (condensed milk) but it is so good. Lacking in the bread department, though. Also, excellent spiciness.

Vietnamese: Pho just might be my favorite food of all time. It's definitely my favorite soup, and there's something so comforting about a big bowl of pho (it's one of Michelle's comfort foods, and she hadn't had it until college). They have some other soups that are quite good as well, and some excellent beef dishes. i've also had some very good curry and noodle dishes, but not many. i think, though, that my addiction to pho has left me lacking in a well-rounded view of Vietnamese cuisine. i haven't had anything particularly spicy from a Vietnamese restaurant, but i've heard that many times the winner of the annual Portland hot eating contest is Vietnamese. So i'm probably missing something there. Pho!

Mediterranean: Definitely some good food going on here. Gyros, hummus, tabbouleh, ... all excellent. Also, good pitas are nearly as good as naan. Definitely some great meat - particularly the lamb. Good rice, but i don't like it quite as much as i like the asian rices. Greek salad is excellent as well. And baklava is a much bigger plus than the desserts (that i know of) from Asia. i just want to mention that Burger Continental will always have a place in my heart. i don't know of any noodle dishes, though. Also, not very spicy (to my knowledge).

Italian: When i think of Italian food, i think of pasta and pizza. To be sure, there are many other foods served in Italy, including some excellent fish/seafood dishes, but they are much less prominent in my mind. i definitely like pasta, and it is served with many different sauces and much variation. i've also experienced some varied pizzas - much more so than in the US (shredded potatoes on your pizza?). The Italians also make some good bread. They're also the only cuisine on the short list with a prominent wine presence. No (or minimal) spiciness, though. Oh, and i can't believe that i almost forgot that they are the only option here that uses cheese in any significant quantity! i really like cheese.

Now that i've done all this, i have to choose one? But i like them all! Well, Mediterranean is the first to go - i just like the others better. Then, i think, i'd have to eliminate the Italian. It's hard to do, but i think it's true. That leaves Thai and Indian. That's a hard decision. i had one idea earlier, but then i stopped and had dinner - a dinner which happened to be the other option. And it was very good. i think, though, that i'm going to have to go with Indian food. i think what i prefer about Indian to Thai is the variety in vegetable dishes - it may just be my experience, but i haven't had that many strong vegetable-centric Thai dishes. And the naan. i don't know that i can begin to tell you how much i like naan. And it goes so well with so many of the other dishes. Again, this is probably making a decision on far too small a sample size. i'm very glad i don't have to make the decision for real. And i'm glad i live in a city where there are excellent restaurants for any of my current culinary inclinations.