Hi all,

I think the countries with the best everyday food in the world, are Belgium, France and Italy. I happen to be from Belgium though.

What are your favorites? For the U.S., feel free to use states, if there are differences between states.

I love the food in Montreal. India has some good food as well.

Never traveled to another country so it's hard to say. In the US there's a Hungry Howies (the one next to my house) that has the best pizza I've ever had (I've eaten pizza in many states). Then there's a Chinese takeout a few miles away that makes the best orange chicken I've ever had. Though I've heard Chinese food isn't always the same as what you'd get in the actual country. Cheeseburgers at most restaurants here are really good. My university cafeteria had some amazing food. They had these herb and waffle fries that were the best fries I've ever had in my life. I didn't know fries could be that good until that point.

I digress though. That is my everyday food. I get like chinese takeout every week and eat a pizza every week along with other things. There's a sub shop (not subway) that makes my favorite subs. Tons of meat and cheese and stuff. You can get like everything in the US within a few miles of any location.

I'm married to a Peruvian, so I'm just a little biased, but good Peruvian food beats anything I've had elsewhere. There are several local hot peppers with great flavors that aren't grown much of anywhere else (aji amarillo, rocoto, aji panca) as well as some indigenous herbs that are fantastic (like huacatai). Much of South American food is incredibly bland, but Peruvian food has powerful flavors. Some everyday foods that are incredible when cooked with fresh, local ingredients are:

• Papa a la huancaina - this is pretty much the only Peruvian food any American has ever heard of. It's basically nacho cheese sauce made with aji amarillo, served over potatoes and hard-boiled eggs, with a lettuce garnish. It's quite good, very common in day-to-day eating, and is cheap. The sauce is basically aji amarillo, queso fresco, milk, oil, and a loaf of bread in a blender. Sometimes it's served quite spicy, but often the seeds are taken out of the peppers before blending.
• Lomo saltado - stir-fried tenderloin steak, tomatoes, and onions, all served over a bed of lightly-salted or unsalted french fries.
• Aji de gallina - this is a sort of chicken curry flavored with aji amarillo, garlic, cumin, and a bunch of other spices, with crushed nuts mixed in. It's typically served over white rice, but sometimes over boiled potatoes.
• Anticuchos - thin-sliced marinated beef heart, barbecued like a kabob. This is as common a street-vendor food in Peru as hot dogs are here in the states. And like street-vendor hot dogs, most are gross, but some are pretty darned delicious (my mother-in-law makes some mean anticuchos).
• Agauadito de pollo - a chicken and vegetable soup that is very heavily flavored with cilantro, and then made spicy with blended rocoto peppers. Fresh lime is frequently added at the time of serving. The cilantro makes the soup a very deep green. It's my favorite soup.
• Papa rellena, Peruvian-style tamales, causa rellena (my favorite potato dish ever), etc., etc., etc.
  We've been to a half-dozen Peruvian restaurants in the states, but you never quite get the legitimate Peruvian food here. My wife makes a lot of dishes pretty well, though, so we get by :-)

Is this asking what country's cuisine is best, or which country is best to go for for food (there is a difference)? I am going to roll with the latter just because it seems more interesting.

If I was gonna pick one country which I'd go to just for food, I'd say... Japan. Gimme some of the milk with meronpan for breakfast and some katsudon, kaitenzushi, gyudon or okonmiyaki for dinner. Yum yum! And freshly made taiyaki for dessert with anko filling. Yummmm!

Other cuisines I love are Mexican and Indian, but I'm not sure I'd jump on a plane to get there as readily as Japan, lol. Especially since you can get decent quality replicas of those in other countries as well (whereas, for instance, bad sushi is really bad sushi).

Mexico. I mean it

This is a tricky question, I've traveled a fair bit but haven't always been in a position to try the local cuisine. I'm a big fan of curries, especially Ghurka curries, as well as Mediterranean style food (i.e. ham, cheese, pasta and olives etc), Bosnia has some good dished though it's mainly lots of meat and I'm guessing not good for you in large doses, Tenerife also has some good food, which seems to be a mix of Spanish with some African influences.

However, I would still vote for the UK as nothing beats a proper Sunday roast.

Hands down the best food in one single country is Italy. I was there for two weeks and did not taste a single bad thing, pizza, wine, cheese, chocolate, ice cream, plain tomato sauce, alfredo sauce, meatballs, sausage, chicken....everything tasted like it was made by Jesus himself. Even the airport food rocked my world.

I haven't been to Japan but I imagine I'd like that too, most of it anyway.

I'm a sucker for Bavarian (big hunks of meat, pretzels, cheese, good beer), but the rest of the food in Germany I could pass on.

It's a hard question because there's good food everywhere...

Mexico. I mean it

I think I would agree with this. Mexican food gets a bad rap for what Americans do to it, but Mexican food from Mexico is very much a thing of beauty. Not necessarily the most elegant or proper food, but omnomnomnomnom.

I would say that I'd give France an honorable mention for me just for their desserts.