Agree with the first part, not with the second.
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Gotta be 100% honest with you all, never really got into Japanese food. Although Iāve only ever had the American version of it. It has maybe the best visual aesthetics of any food, but for me personally Iād rather go for most any other Asian cuisine.
Still dig the idea of every train station having its own signature bento box.
Japanese food may be overrated, but food in Japan is not.
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The bento boxes youāre talking about are ones with a few sections with a variety of items, which of course are common.
But many, including many popular eki-ben, contain just a single food item (usually with rice).
This is hard to get living here, because there is a good bit of diversity to Japanese food that you donāt really see here. When I was growing up Japanese food options were Benihana and some sushi. The only ramen Iād heard of was Maruchan. Things have come a long way since then, but you still really have to make an effort to get the full Japanese food experience.
Talking with a foodie friend from Mexico City, and having had some exceptional Mexican food in my limited time in the Bay, itās not too hard to find good authentic Mexican food in the US, but the good, authentic Mexican food you can get here is usually from a fairly small subset of good Mexican cuisine. Like, haute Mexican cuisine is a thing, and it is very hard to find outside of Mexico.
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Okay, this makes sense.
Maybe Ethiopian, not because itās actually one of the worldās great cuisines or anything, but because itās good and distinctive and not on most peopleās radar at all.
Otherwise Iād agree Mexican. I had a Mexican meal at an upmarket place in Sedona that was amazing and even the supposedly good Mexican restaurants here are bad in comparison.
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This was my thought when I asked the question.
āAuthenticā in regards to food is a pet hate of mine because what people actually mean most of the time is āgoodā. Like basic vermicelli with fried pork balls is very much āauthentic Vietnameseā but that is not what people mean if they say that. (I think Wookieās use of it above is fine, but in general itās one of those words which has become meaningless).
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Go to Puebla and Oaxaca and just eat everything that looks good. Itās all incredible, and much more varied than what you get in the states.
Tacos Ɣrabes - created by Lebanese Christians who migrated to Puebla in the 1800s. Sort of like a cross between a shawarma and a taco. So good.
Tlayudas in Oaxaca - like a big tostada with black bean paste, avocado, tomato, meat and Oaxaca cheese. Iāve never seen those in the states.
Many more things I havenāt seen anywhere else, and different styles of mole in both places. The cities compete against each other. Itās the only place Iāve ever been that rivals Italy.
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More like what they find at the casual restaurant with free chips, watery margaritas, and a huge menu thatās 70% Tex-Mex / 30% Cal-Mex.
Iāve probably talked about this before, but this book Taco USA has some interesting thoughts on the prestige we give to āauthenticityā and how authenticity really should be a fuzzy concept when it comes to Mexican food and the shifting US/Mexican border. We tend to think of Tex-Mex and Southwestern as low-prestige because theyāre not āauthentic.ā Which doesnāt really make sense.
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Yeah, I was going for brevity, but thatās all part of the same problem.
I love me some sushi, ramen, pork katsu, good teriyaki, probably some other Japanese stuff Iām forgetting.
i mean i live in a terrible food city and it has like 7 decent taquerias. even in north carolina we had a few decent mexican food trucks. if someone still thinks mexican food is taco bell itās on them.
Peruvian food is elite. Not sure how widely known this is.
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Interesting. I guess in the youtube I watched the woman wasnāt eating an eki-ben but just random bento boxes.
You do realize that the vast majority of the US doesnāt have the food options of the Bay?
the vast majority of the usa never had japanese food either. itās weird to have this discussion from that view point.
like i think the difference between a random āitalianā place in california to decent italian food is far greater than the average mexican place to decent mexican food, for example.