This is actually a thoughtful original post. I have lived half of my life overseas and half in the USA. Prior to Covid, I think the USA had the best mid-range food. Mid-range food in Europe is incredibly overrated. Lots of touristy places serving truly terrible fare. Lots of American tourists proclaiming how good truly average food is, with the restaurants having the last laugh. The worst meal of my life was at a reputable restaurant in Chamonix, France. I have spent months and months in France, Italy, Spain and the UK so this is not a one off opinion. After returning to the USA post Covid, I felt like there was a real decline in quality and the cost of restaurants is absurd. While the USA seemed to be trending up, it has certainly flatlined now. I was recently in Japan and can say I disagree with the poster's view that the food is second rate. Great food is literally everywhere and is cheap (maybe 30% of USA prices), largely healthy and the sheer number of restaurants in a city like Tokyo dwarfs any USA city. The convenience stores are incredible, as other posters have noted, and even western food in Japan is better. There are an incredible number of great pizza places and French restaurant in Tokyo. Japanese bakeries are incredible as well. Even McDonalds tastes better in Japan because it likely is not laden with endless preservatives. Interesting post, but off base about Japan.
USA does. After being in Europe for 2 months and eating real healthy food. I came back to the states and got food poisoning off the poison of food they provide here. Chicken full of hormones, MGO “veggies” and preservative chemicals on everything. No wonder USA has so many issues like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Worst on the planet.
Everyone has an opinion. So pointless to prevaricate on what is best it is so individual. Still you brought it up so...nihon dewa oishii ryouri desune...
Tokyo has more Michelin started reasturants than any city in the world. As others have pointed out, you can get great meals that are Italian or French or whatever. The Japanese don’t cut corners. I’ve had one of the best meals of my life in Kyoto.
This may be the worst post I’ve read on any website. Tokyo probably has the best food in any major city (on average) if you know where to go, without breaking the bank
This may be the worst post I’ve read on any website. Tokyo probably has the best food in any major city (on average) if you know where to go, without breaking the bank
I recently got back from my first visit to Japan (10 days in Tokyo for work followed by a few weeks of visiting old friends and tourism during the holidays) and was pretty amazed by how hard it was to find decent things to eat.
I had always heard about how good and healthy the Japanese diet was, but when following my local hosts or friends around it was rare to come across foods that didn't have pretty overwhelming quantities of salt, fat, or sugar. Even when I sought it out, it was also pretty rare to find anything with much spice (especially heat), and even the well reviewed Korean and Chinese places I tried seemed to have their flavors pretty toned down. Western food was also very bizarre, with staples like cheese and bread somehow being even worse versions of the stuff you typically get at US or UK supermarkets. The curry also seems to have been inspired by the worst versions of the dish you can find in the UK instead of the delicious varieties you find across the rest of east Asia.
My personal evaluation for the foods in the countries I've visited:
A+: USA (almost entirely due to their good access to international cuisines in big cities)
A: Italy, Turkey, Mexico, London (for similar reasons to the US).
A-: Hong Kong, Egypt, Canada (similar to US, but noticeably worse).
B: Germany.
B-: France, Switzerland.
C: Hungary.
C-: Japan.
D: Rural parts of the US and UK.
I also have an extremely high opinion of Indian/Pakastani food, although have never made it out to either region.
Yep, it's total trash. That's why the Japanese life expectancy is right down by Djibouti's.
So we did live a lot on Door Dash and McDonalds and KFC. But I spent a ton of time in their convenience stores and was blown away by the whole experience. They had full meals in plastic containers that were amazing - stuff you'd never find in a US convenience store. And everything was super cheap. Like a coke cost $1 versus $4 here.
Another brilliant rojo post, one of the top ranked posters.
Every supermarket here in Australia and I am sure in USA have these pre packed plastic sealed meals simply requiring reheat , from pulled pork to rogan josh to lasagne and stir fry. You have them even in South Africa
Get out more. You had to travel to Japan and visit a 7 eleven to know those items exist throughout the world.
I simply upvote all of rojo’s posts. His greatness is apparent.
Loved the food in Japan. Even some of the international food was very good since their overall food standard is high. For example one night really wanted to get Indian (I was a bit annoyed to do this while in Japan instead of eating Japanese food) and it was actually bomb Indian food
top notch Chinese and Japanese are my favorite, along with steak and eggs.
here in Vancouver, the food is phenomenal,
outside Vancouver, generally in BC Canada, it is very, very bad. as is nearly the entire North, and Maritimes.
basically the people have no sense of taste, and destroy the food with salt, frying, sauce,
and can't stop pushing that garbage down their pie hole.
outside the cities where some people keep in shape, most of the people over 40 can barely walk, due to their size and ill health. they all wear glasses, they all have the same hair doo, and hair cut.
meanwhile the Japanese have little obesity .... and best marathoners outside Africa....
This may be the worst post I’ve read on any website. Tokyo probably has the best food in any major city (on average) if you know where to go, without breaking the bank
Yakitori Alley in Shinjuku for sure.
This is exactly the part of Japanes cuisine I don't understand. What is the particular appeal of un-spiced grilled meat? The yakitori I was getting was primarily either only seasoned with salt or seasoned with sweet miso. A couple that I went out of my way to look for were extremely lightly spiced. The miso version would be decent but not great if not for the fact that miso was the only other flavor I was running into besides plain fat, salt, and sweet.
You also get foods with plenty of soy in the good Chinese and Korean I've tried, but the difference being that in those cuisines it's one part of the flavor, not the star of the show.
I recently got back from my first visit to Japan (10 days in Tokyo for work followed by a few weeks of visiting old friends and tourism during the holidays) and was pretty amazed by how hard it was to find decent things to eat.
I had always heard about how good and healthy the Japanese diet was, but when following my local hosts or friends around it was rare to come across foods that didn't have pretty overwhelming quantities of salt, fat, or sugar. Even when I sought it out, it was also pretty rare to find anything with much spice (especially heat), and even the well reviewed Korean and Chinese places I tried seemed to have their flavors pretty toned down. Western food was also very bizarre, with staples like cheese and bread somehow being even worse versions of the stuff you typically get at US or UK supermarkets. The curry also seems to have been inspired by the worst versions of the dish you can find in the UK instead of the delicious varieties you find across the rest of east Asia.
My personal evaluation for the foods in the countries I've visited:
A+: USA (almost entirely due to their good access to international cuisines in big cities)
A: Italy, Turkey, Mexico, London (for similar reasons to the US).
A-: Hong Kong, Egypt, Canada (similar to US, but noticeably worse).
B: Germany.
B-: France, Switzerland.
C: Hungary.
C-: Japan.
D: Rural parts of the US and UK.
I also have an extremely high opinion of Indian/Pakastani food, although have never made it out to either region.
Uhh, Hong Kong is a D at best. I’ve been there too many times to count. If it has four legs, but isn’t a chair or swims in the ocean, but isn’t a submarine the Cantonese will eat it. Mostly their food is based on a dare.
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