LP's latest poll

Jeffrey Steingarten, for whom I have a lot of respect, says very good things about the food in Japan. I have not been a big fan of the Japanese food I've had in America and Europe, but he does make the food there sound very good, at least if your pockets are deep enough.

Kerouac2
I did not even see Turkey on Fieldgate's list.

It's LP's poll, not mine.

Vinny #9
It's like American-Chinese vs. Chinese-Chinese. Two entirely different cuisines.
That's not the case with Trukish cuisine, with kabab in pita bread being an exception (in Europe).

I do know that any list is a real subjective thing, but one country i think should be on any list about food is Malaysia. For me it is the perfect fusion of infuences from all over with Asian cooking, an echo of all sorts of influences from countries who traded, or settled there. Malaysia is a real mealing pot of Asia, Influences from Portugal, China, India and other lands IMO make it the most interesting of cuisines.............................. And Vinny, what is 'smetana'?

I don't know if Vinny will be back, strauss, but smetana (сметана) is sour cream.

Limiting myself to hors d'oeuvres only, here are some examples of Russian ones, called zakuski:

Oysters with caviar
Cold-smoked sturgeon and salmon
Pickled herring
Marinated herring
Fish in aspic
Smoked pork loin
Suckling pig in aspic
Cold beef tongue with horseradish sauce
Calf's liver and mushroom paté
Stuffed eggs baked in eggshells
Marinated beet salad
Red cabbage salad
Cucumber salad
Potato salad

Are many of these generally available? I would guess not.

"Afghanistan is an odd candidate - I guess it's something between Pakistani and Iranian foods"

Closer to a cross between Indian & Greek-tasty but in no way remarkable.

Peruvian is much more varied than Ecuadoran-nut surprising since it's much much larger.

"Turkey is the most surprising omission from that list. "

Agreed.

Also the idea that Japanese food is somehow expensive is ludicrous-Vancouver heaves with outstanding examples of the cuisine and only a few are high end places.

Vinny - the soup you seek is borscht. Done right it's quite yummy as are pirosky and bilinis with smoked meat and cavier. Yum! Some of their bacons are pretty good too.

I would vote Ethiopia - because I love injera and all of the stuff one can put on them and because every time I tell someone that I like Ethiopian food they ask if Ethiopia has food. World's best kept culinary secret.

hardnose, the food I was talking about, the food that Jeffrey Steingarten ate in Japan and raved about, was expensive, or so he said.

sacha, no, it had a different name, and was thinner that what I think of as borscht.

Vinny, I'm curious about that soup, too, because I would have called it borscht. If my grandmother made borscht, it would be served hot, without sour cream and very likely with some beef in it. If borscht were to be served cold with sour cream, it would be prepared meatless so that it didn't violate Jewish dietary laws.

I'm curious, too, about the pelmeni with cherries and sour cream. In our house those were vareniki. I think of pelmeni as so small that you might be able to fit a single cherry in one, while vareniki could accommodate four to six.

Well, Vinny - when I googled Russian beet soup (just to see what would happen) I got:

Borshch
Borsch
and
Borschok

along with borscht, of course. Got me I only know borscht. BTW Schav is also a good, cold Russian soup if you like spinach.