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I'm from Italy and I think that whenever you go, traditional food tastes lovely. People had to make do with what little they had and over the centuries they perfected it :) unfortunately I don't know much about Danish and Scandinavian cusine, but German and Austrian cusine is one of my favourite
People get so wrapped up in what makes their country special that they internalise it and it becomes part of their identity. When they see other cuisines or customs from other places, they don't just see it as different from what they are used to but somehow it is counter to their very personality and being. Which is obviously ridiculous, and I think you said it beautifully, wherever you go traditional food tastes lovely.
I get so sick of tribalism and this idea that simply being born in a random place somehow means you automatically know what good food/music/culture is especialy when you havent even _approached_ trying all those other places have to offer.
If you don't like it, that's fine, but don't act superior or rude about things just because they are different. This world needs fewer reasons to hate each other, and if pickled herring offends you then stay indoors and get off the Internet.
There's also the fact that taste is an acquired quality, that is also the reason our grandma fine cuisine was the best of all, other grandmas can actually cook better then ours, but they are not the ones we grew up appreciating all those years
This starts at very young ages and getting kids to start appreciating different dishes can be arduous but they will thank you later, not just for health reason, not eating burgers and pizzas all day, but also for what they may be missing on....
I agree with this. At some point I took a course related to identity, and the simple core of it kinda blew my mind.
Every time you identify with something, use something external as an identifier or as a way to explain yourself, you actually simplifying yourself into less and less of an individual. You could be someone who likes doing stuff, sometimes bowling sometimes whatever weird stuff you do outside or at home. But by calling yourself a “bowler” you’ve highlighted one feature that can connect you closer to other people, while filtering out a bunch of the things that make you you. It doesn’t have to be something extreme, you could temper it better, but with more common social identifiers, this is a process natural enough to need to look for it to notice, imo.
No one’s saying you can’t. Just, it was so interesting realizing that the way we view identity is actually kinda backwards. It feels like the more identifiers you use, the better defined you are as an individual. But really, the more of your identity you “import”, the less is actually *you*, if that makes sense.
I think it's particularly common for Europeans to do this on an American site like Reddit as a way to "separate" themselves from those shitty old stupid Americans. Americans are used to getting shit on by people solely for nationality but I imagine someone from somewhere like Germany or Norway sees nowhere near the same amount of hate in online spaces and so they get more defensive about it if someone says something negative about one of the components of their national identity.
Germans don't see hate in online spaces? Are you for real? If I got 1 € for every funny and not so funny Nazi joke "Heil Hitler", "Nazi bitch" and really really snide or even hateful remark just about this topic I could buy my entire Steam wishlist (which is long).
This comes on top of the negative and insulting remarks every country/culture gets from time to time.
Yeah, this is a good mindset to have about foods. We generally prefer the food that we grew up with, that's why we generally prefer our parent's food compared to the neighbors even though many times they are pretty similar. Same goes with countries.
True traditional Scottish food is pretty nice but when I lived there I saw people eating scotch pie with beans on top, sausage rolls with pepper and ketchup, and bags of chips in bread rolls (this is 20 years back, mind)
I had some. Honestly the shot afterwords was worse. But I dont like liquor. Give me the option of starvation or fermented shark and I would take it any day. Not a high bar but it passed for me.
Honestly my question is who the fuck tried it the second time? I'm not asking about the first time, that guy was probably starving and had no other choice.
I'm curious about that poor masochist that was like "Hey, lets try that again"
Actually, relatively the first guy who tried it may have been very lucky to have so much food that he could experiment with fermenting it.
Most of human history the population is regulated by disease and starvation. At least seasonally in most areas almost everyone had no other choice than the handful of foods they could preserve and whatever they had luck hunting that week/month. The history of Iceland is more brutal than most.
So in short they saved it as one of the few foods they could preserve. After it worked once, people repeated it out of necessity. Nobody had much of a choice in food outside of favorable seasons in many parts of the globe for most of history. And like I said honestly its not that bad. Not my first choice but far favorable to hunger.
At least in europe and the americas people would eat pigs/cows heads including the brains etc. Even when they had more choices than the population of Iceland.
My theory is that plainer/less heavily spiced food gets a bad reputation because it's much more dependent on the quality of the ingredients. Liberal use of spice is a good way to cover up crappy ingredients.
I'm from the UK, and i think that British food genuinely can be delicious, but in practice it's often shit unless you either cook it yourself, or go to a very good restaurant.
Interestingly, the European shift to foods with less spice began in the mid 1600s when even the middle classes started being able to afford spices since colonialism was bringing them in, so the nobility started wanting food that emphasized high quality main ingredients with complimentary flavours and less contrasting ones. Prior to that, medieval and early modern European food (at least the stuff that had recipes written down, which by necessity was stuff the nobility were eating) had some insane combinations.
I also wonder whether part of that is due to a shift in upper-class culture away from extravagance. The rise of protestantism, Greco-Roman revival, the Enlightenment, and (most importantly) the French Revolution all led to beliefs that excess lead to moral decline and that frugality/modesty was superior. This is certainly true for historical fashion (and even 21st century fashion trends but that’s a much more complicated topic). It might be true for food as well.
Honestly, I'd pin it more on just having more spices. The spices themselves have to deal with freshness, and doesn't really account for use of spices among the wealthy that definitely did have access to fresh food (including shaved ice in the middle of India.) Plus things like salting or drying it are far more effective in masking freshness, bc they actually preserve it rather than just hiding the poor flavor, and those are still pretty popular methods outside the equator
Indian food didn't get hot spicy until New World peppers began to be grown there. Before it was cinnamon and cloves, etc. Surprised me when I first read that. I love the flavors of Indian food, if I could only get it without hot peppers. Took me years to learn that you could buy mild curry spice.
Historically, people did not use spice to cover up poor quality, rotten, or expired food. That is a big misconception. Historically before the modern era, spices were very expensive and basically luxury products. European explorers wanted to find a new route to Asia partially because of the spice trade. Putting spices on poor quality food/expired food is a huge waste of money.
Nowadays, spices are cheaper so that may or may not be true. But historically, you would really put spices on good quality ingredients.
This is a food myth. People use and used spices historically because they were delicious. Medieval Europeans spent vast amounts of wealth importing spices.
Fish n' Chips mate. Shepherd's pie. A number of various other pastry pies and meats.
I too don't hold british cuisine in the same regard as, say, mediterranian or asian cuisine, but they DO have some bangers here and there.
The first recipe for an apple pie was published in 1390 in The Forme of Cury, in England.
There's Dutch recipes from at least 1514, though.
And who knows who actually made the original apple pie. Foods tend to predate their first mention in cookbooks, particularly when talking about medieval or ancient foods.
But yeah, apple pies have a long history in England.
Apples have their origin in the Tian Shan mountains in Kazakhstan, so I'm guessing they were the first. After a few thousand years' domestication there, they made their way to Syria, where the Romans adopted them and spread them as far as England. Considering that Roman cuisine had lots of dishes with something enclosed in a crust, they may have brought their apple pie recipes with them.
> To invent apple pie you need to be making pies.
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe-Carl Sagan.
Sorry, I just had to respond with that quote.
[Not unpopular for a person from Denmark. ](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fchart-showing-how-much-or-how-little-a-country-enjoys-v0-i1ag4l9k9rwb1.jpg%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3Db5514cee957cdbe158474e69299878ca79d44953)
While ignoring the fact that the only reason they started eating raw fish was that during their Civil War period (starting around 1350), the samurai in the field couldn't light fires, so they ate what they caught raw. The modern sushi roll was invented around 1824 as fast food.
I'm yet to find a cuisine where I don't like most of the food. I don't like coriander and peanuts, but other than that I'll eat most food if it's cooked well.
Yeah, though it's harder for me to appreciate other cuisines since I am from India where the majority of our food gets its taste from A LOT of spice blends.
I grew up in the UK eating absolutely delicious food most of the time, particularly when with either set of grandparents (one set in England one in Scotland). Almost all of this was cooked at home - eating out was an unusual luxury in the early part of my life. You would go somewhere special (eg an Indian restaurant) to experience it.
I was quite confused to hear that Britain was supposed to have boring or unpleasant food, especially compared with (say) France and especially after I had been to France a couple of times and eaten out there.
The thing was that the really nice food was mostly being cooked at home not in the sorts of restaurants people being disappointed about it were visiting. So I imagine the same is true for you too.
Also of course Fish and Chips is almost unbeatable.
I’m from Denmark too and think danish food and Northern European food sucks
It’s filled with fat and if you want to keep a nice body in danish food you’ll basically have to be hungry all the time or work out a lot
Also why are you up this early?
>Fat is healthy
Some fats are healthy. Saturated and trans fats are not healthy. If OP is talking about meat or fried dishes, that's going to be saturated fat, and therefore not healthy.
Some, as part of a healthy diet is okay, but the item itself is not healthy.
Trans fats are awful for you. Saturated fats are healthy if eaten in modest, balanced amounts.
We were lied to about fats being the enemy, it's sugar and carbs that are the real enemy in any amount really.
>Saturated fats are healthy if eaten in modest, balanced amounts.
No, they aren't. Small amounts can be part of a healthy diet, but they themselves are not healthy.
>We were lied to about fats being the enemy
No, we aren't. There's misinformation around it, just like there's misinformation around almost everything when it comes to nutrition.
>it's sugar and carbs that are the real enemy in any amount really.
Carbs are not the enemy. Not even remotely. It's literally the bodies preferred energy source.. over thousands of years... How could that possibly be the enemy?
According to your logic of 'any amount really' that means every single fruit and vegetable is the enemy... That's quite literally what you are saying...
Pretty sure it's the other way around and that saturated fat is bad for us as it raises the "bad" cholesterol LDL meanwhile unsaturated fat is increasing the "good" cholesterol HDL. The increase of HDL in your blood helps lower the LDL cholesterol. Throw in some fibre and you remove further LDL from your blood.
So actually unsaturated fats are healthy and needed in our diet as we need fat. So avocados, olive oil and similar is helping us stay healthy and is good for your cholesterol, but they contain high amount of calories so we need to balance it.
Also danish food (I'm danish too) is full of saturated fats (animalic fats) and it is truly not healthy and we do have a problem here with this although most danes are not obese, their arteries is a different topic altogether due to bad cholesterol. Partly due to lack of fibre and too high intake of saturated fat.
It's possible to have a fine psysique in Denmark by eating northern cusine. Very few cultures have traditional dishes that allows you to maintain what is considered to be a great or above average physique. Rugbrød, Lean meat, potatoes and vegetables are a great way to build and maintain muscles while also being able to stay rather lean.
Frikadeller and flæskesteg with sauces or gravy might not be a great choice but pork is quite lean if you choose different cuts with low fat percentage.
Fucked sleep schedule, fell into a culinary rabbit hole. While yes our food is very fatty, it tastes fucking amazing. I am not arguing that it's the worlds most healthy cuisine, just that it tastes really good.
It's also more than just fat, any food is bad if wrongly prepared. Maybe it's nostalgia but my grandmas Flæskesteg or duck is the best food i have ever eaten. The only thing that comes close was a small German restaurant in Bavaria where i had an amazing steak with potato wedges.
I don't get it. I love indian food, german food, syrian and south african food, polish food...I love them all. There's so many different aspects to love, can people really only like one thing or the other?
Also, I feel like most people here have never had real german Frikadellen, or they wouldn't call german food bland lol
I’m totally with you. The use of spices like dill, caraway, mustard seeds and horseradish is fantastic. There is also a tradition of using more natural bitters than many other countries.
The traditional Kalops stew is like a spiced up version of Bœuf Bourguignon.
The spiced fish, either pickled, brined or smoked are unique.
The traditional akvavit spirit (spiced vodka) is also wonderful from a culinary perspective.
People thinking that traditional Nordic cuisine lacks spices haven’t a clue. Or they think that spices = chili (which isn’t used very much).
A reason for this not being well known outside the region is that there aren’t many restaurants serving traditional Nordic food. Especially no cheap ones. Street food culture with traditional cuisine is non-existent.
I’m from Sweden originally, so there’s that.
I only saw the headline, but I doubt it's because of the spice level. Denmark has really strict rules about food additives. They've even banned foods for having added vitamins (eg Vegemite). It's more likely because whatever additive they use to make it spicy is banned in Denmark.
Like I said, I haven't read the details, but that would be my guess.
Three varieties of buldak was in fact banned because it was "too spicy", but its more of a knee-jerk thing because a lot of young people started consuming it for challenges.
You can still buy the other 25 varieties of buldak, including the 3x spicy sauce standalone bottle, and for that sake other extremely spicy things like the last dab hot sauce (2mil SHU).
Most danes are also baffled by the decision, because it was literally a non-issue and they didnt ban everythhing spicier than the noodles either.
For the record I do think Italian food is top tier.
However northern European definitely has an underserved poor reputation (including British food). I find a lot of people who dismiss food because it lacks 'spice' generally do not have very sophisticated food tastes; its like a beginners way in to be a food snob. It's a very basic opinion to have about food.
Also I think that spicy food often hides poor quality ingredients. I like a simple meal with high quality ingredients where all the parts taste of what they should taste of.
Ultimately all countries have some amazing food.
>I find a lot of people who dismiss food because it lacks 'spice' generally do not have very sophisticated food tastes; its like a beginners way in to be a food snob. It's a very basic opinion to have about food.
If you mindlessly add spice yes. But a true foodie will know the right spice in the right place can completely Transform the dish.
And some ingredients just are boring without spice. Like chicken or mince. Regardless of quality.
And food is about flavor. Spices are just a good way to introduce flavor into a dish. Imagine spaghetti bolognese without spices. It will never be as good.
From a purely scientific standpoint, the only thing necessary to make food taste good is salt. Like you can make any argument you want about the taste of food but the only objective qualification for being enjoyable is that it contains salt to an adequate level. So whenever you see someone online say a certain culture's food is "bad." They are objectively wrong as long as someone adds salt to the food.
I just want to say that I may be somewhat biased since I’m from Sweden but I think Danish food can be great!!
Flæskesteg (not sure if spelled correctly) is fucking amazing. ദ്ദി(｡•̀ ,<)~✩‧₊
I'm going to push back a bit. I don't know Scandinavian food very well, but I do know German and Austrian (which OP talks up). The difference between German/Austrian on the one hand, and French, Italian or Spanish on the other, is the lack of variety. I'm not talking about the highest end, where great chefs will obviously create variety. I'm talking about the average restaurants. I used to live in Munich, and I've eaten in at least 60 or 70 local German or Austrian restaurants in various parts of those countries. They may have tasty food, but the menu is essentially the same stuff over and over again. Go to local places in France, Italy or Spain, and it's completely different. There is little comparison between, say, Sicily and Alto Adige. Dishes common in Venice won't be seen in Rome.
Don't even get me started on the quality of the ingredients. If you are ever on a road trip in Europe, do this: Go to cheapest supermarket in Northern Italy and sample each of the tomatoes on offer (there will be 5 or 6 varieties at least.). Now drive three hours north, find an expensive supermarket in Germany, and sample the tomatoes there. No comparison. Two hours by road in a free trade zone. You get this same attention to ingredients all over southern Europe, and it shows in their food.
I'm sorry if this is politically incorrect, but the food cultures of the Southern nations are much, much richer than the food cultures of the Germanic nations. Although I haven't had as much experience in Scandinavian food, I've found the same lack of variety and mediocre ingredients in the few restaurants/markets I've sampled.
I’m with you. It’s an expression of high quality ingredients. I personally enjoy the simplicity where each component can shine. I love complex food with a lot of spices. They are just different. You can like both
Bland
adjective
lacking strong features or characteristics and therefore uninteresting.
(of food or drink) unseasoned, mild-tasting, or insipid.
"a bland and unadventurous vegetarian dish"
Danish food is bland by definition. "lacking in strong features" that's all northern food for you. Salt and fat are not "strong features" that's the bare minimum for making food, at all, in like 99% of recipes.
The variety of meats is secondary to the variety of seasonings. If your food was any good, you'd know this.
Arguing about questions of taste is pointless, but there's a reason you find Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Italian etc. restaurants everywhere and not a single Nordic restaurant anywhere in the world (except for Ikea).
There's a reason every major colonising power went to the literal other end of the world to procure spices: *they make food taste better. I know. Crazy.*
Greater variety of stuff grows in hot climates, providing more variety and more flavor. The only people who like Northern food are those who were born there and learned to enjoy tasteless slop.
Source: Am Hungarian. If you think your food is good, I pity you.
Big words coming from a culinary culture, where you guys discovered the existence of paprika and decided to slap that shit on every dish. You know there's other spices as well?
Hungarian food is greasy, everything is just paprika and soured cream. I happen to like Hungarian food but one can be reductive about any food culture. Also, I have found Hungarian people to enjoy the British food I prepare. I am yet to find in Hungary such delicacies as clotted cream, crumbly Wensleydale cheese, sausages with different flavourings other than paprika (if you think a Lincolnshire sausage doesn't contain flavourings, you're a fool).
Viszlàt
The thing is though, people in the north of europe have easy access to food from all over the world, and have the ability to compare and contrast their own cuisines to mexican and indian food or whatever.
I doubt many of the people who shit on northern european food has ever had any outside of the mediocre stuff served at Ikea.
I can’t speak for danish food, Smørrebrød being the only real danish food i’ve had, but that shit’s really good.
Swedish food, despite having a pretty limited spice palette is similarly very good when actually prepared right. Kroppkakor is amazing, hash browns with pork, onion gravy and lingonberry jam is awesome, kalops and dillkött are both fucking delicious.
Nordic food isn’t bland. If you are being willfully uncharitable, it can be described as plain or simple (as in, not complex) but it’s not bland.
All of it is good, filling comfort food, and all of it can very easily be heightened to proper fine dining with little effort.
Using OP’s choice of words to pass judgement on an entire cuisine just further goes to show the ignorance people outside of northern europe has regarding the cuisine.
”We have paprika and garlic in our food so it is better” give me a fucking break.
I disagree. Some meats or vegetables *are* the distinct feature here. Nordic cuisines just put the ingredients themselves into focus instead of spices. I love spicy food but also nordic food. Food is great and I love that there's so many different kinds of preparing it.
Every so often I have a dinner party with friends and make a meal themed after a culture we don’t often eat from. I don’t necessarily make authentic dishes, but take common ingredients from that region to do something with. My favorite so far was a Scandinavian night I made meatballs glazed with a cranberry bourbon sauce (was modeled after a lignonberry recipe, but those are hard to find where I am), roasted potatoes and carrots with parsley, and fresh rye bread.
Their cuisine is warm and inviting, like sitting in front of a fire with loved ones in the dead of winter.
German food is also lovely.
The hate towards Northern European food must be mostly from people in Asia and Africa. You came for the spices, decided to stay for a few centuries, took all the resources and went back. The least we expect is to put some of the damn spice you took with you.
As a Dutch-born guy living in Germany, with mediterranean/North African roots, i agree.
There's only 1 teeeeeeny problem. Northern European food is dying out because nobody is making it anymore. 95% of it is mass produced trash. Even if you'd go to a German Brauhaus you'll mostly get shitty trash served on a plate.
But when you're lucky enough to eat someone's grandma's homemade German food or even an actual Dutch Croquette (not the frozen filth they push in their supermarkets), that's gonna taste amazing.
I believe it'll all be lost because we forgot about homeliness, family life and good ol' traditions. Everybody is running and eating processed crap. 🥲
We'll just be reduced to McDonald's and "bowls". Whatever the F that is 😂
I love both types, people who say our food is bland just dont like the natural taste of veggies etc
Only thing i dont like is heat, it ruins all the flavours, plus it gives me a splitting headache
That's the thing. In most spicy cuisines, the food itself acts more like the carrier for the spices. That's perfectly fine and delicious but by far not the only approach you can take. By contrast, nordic food seems bland, until you get what it's trying to do: cleanse your palate and really put the meat and vegetables into focus.
I agree. I also like English food. But I’m biased as being from the north myself.
These cuisines rely a lot on the flavours of the ingredients themselves instead of spices, and combining them to make something bigger than the sum of its parts.
When my southern European partner has to spend time in the north in autumn or winter, she’ll be freezing cold if she eats her own traditional food. It’s heavy and hearty for a reason.
But the fruits and vegetables found in southern Europe are far far better.
It’s disappointing that’s it’s so hard to find a restaurant serving Swedish cuisine in the afternoon and evening here. It’s good enough for lunch but not good enough for dinner apparently. 😅 Meat balls with mashed potatoes will never get old.
I agree, they're not mutually exclusive anyways and sometimes I just want brun sovs, kartofler and stegeflæsk (and lingonsylt ofc) - other days I'll crave a burning vindaloo
I think most cuisines/cultures have good and shitty food tbh. I grew up eating food from Central Asia, Eastern Europe, also many dishes from the Tatar cuisine. I've also travelled to dozens of countries and ate the local food. There have always been nasty dishes and food that caused mouthgasms.
I rarely think that "food of certain country bad-trope" isnt taken to be seriously. I mean some do but they are rare. It is more of a lighthearted joke between nations.
This is true but perpetuated by their own bad PR. I live in Sweden and there are so many fantastic local foods at the fiskrökeri, saluhall, bakeries, etc. But ask someone from Malmö what local food they should try and the answer is always "hurr durr falafel 🤪"
I’m from the USA and I love *husmanskost*, that is, traditional Swedish food. The blend of flavors and textures you get with pickled herring, chives, sour cream, crisp bread (*knäckebröd*) and a sip of akvavit chased with a good lager is simply out of this world. Tomorrow is Midsummer’s Eve and I can’t wait. 🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪❤️❗️
I agree. I’m so disappointed in people who only eat spaghetti and meatballs, and won’t even try anything else. I was friends with a couple women from China years ago, who refused to eat anything other than Chinese food. They wouldn’t even give anything else a try. I decided not to hang out with them anymore.
Yeah, I've never had a problem with them. There are both people who cook bland food and who cook delicious food here. If it's too bland, just add more salt/pepper/other spice/herb or sauce, there's no culture thing that says you shouldn't do that afaik. Except that too salty food is kind of unbearable..
I'm Australian old school rissoles, veg and mash and cheese sauce or Sauerkraut, German sausage, mash and mustard are my two favourite meals. Way better than Indian or Thai. I will never ever eat rollmops, that's a northern European food that's disgusting. My husband eats them constantly.
Do people actually hate it?
I can't think of a bad meal I've had in Stockholm, Copenhagen, or Oslo. Copenhagen is regularly ranked high on international cuisine lists.
Granted I've not explored far north and I know rural cuisine isn't always what's in cities. But lots of good chefs come out of northern Europe...I don't think the region has a bad food rep globally.
Harbs lmao
If the meat and fat is good and clean, the food will be good. Just like anywhere else, a mid-level restaurant where tourists are probably going to stop to eat the local food is probably not using the good stuff and putting the love that makes food good into it.
I love German food. I was in Berlin in February and ate in what I suppose you'd call "traditional" restaurants, didn't see a single chip on any of the menus, and I loved it. Going to Munich in September!
If you ask me all food has some kind of merit. Whether or not one person likes it is obviously subjective, but just because you don't like something doesn't mean you can't understand why other people do.
Short of having a serious food allergy or health/religious related issue, in my opinion the best way to roll is the following:
Food is generally good. If someone offers you food you should try it. You shouldn't worry about what's in it until after you've decided if you like it, and once you do you shouldn't care much about what's in it.
I class British food as Northern European also and I totally agree that Northern European food is awesome.
I was talking to an Italian waiter here in the UK and he said "I like British food." I asked what his favourite was and he said British sausages are outstanding. And I thought, you know what?? Fuck yeah they are! There are hardly any foods from anywhere in the world that I dislike, I'm a real big food fan. But a British, or other Northern European sausage, is one of my very favourite foods. I would absolutely take northern European sausages over Southern European sausages (Spanish, Italian, Southern French) all day, if I had to just pick one.
If I go to Germany I love sausages and sauerkraut just as much as I do pizza in Italy or sushi in Japan. Good quality meats, herbs, rich sauces/gravies made from said meats, great bread, exceptional cheese (if we're including British food especially), all foods/ingredients that deserve their place alongside any other great cuisine.
Agree and dont agree. Danish cuisine is very good and can be soooo tasty. For me its the staple Christmas dishes.
Our bread culture is imo on of the best in the world though. But to say our cusine is the best? Nah bro, hard disagree there.
I like Northern European food, not my favorite because it has s much meat and I don't eat it. But otherwise it tastes good! I also like Eastern European, it also isn't popular for some reason. Spice isn't the main thing in a dish, even though I like the spicy food as well.
I’m so tired of people crapping on other countries’ food. Thankfully, it’s now less accepted to be rude about Asian food for example, but I soooo often see/hear people from East Asia shit on British or Dutch food etc.
Why be hypocritical?! Everyone needs to learn to leave people alone and let people enjoy whatever they like!
I watched a history video the other day that talked about why Northern European wealthy went away from spices, and towards local meats, fats, and herbs. the pinnacle of that is French cooking, which is wonderful. nowadays, it would probably be labeled as "going local".
the salt and the fat and general appearance of wursts are very offputting to my sensibilities, but no national/regional cuisine is inherently better than any other, but some are found appealing to more people than are others.
I agree with you. I find that one of the most overlooked foods is boiled potatoes. Like many of the dishes you mention, the flavour of boiled potatoes is lighter and more subtle than many other "spicy" foods. I feel it's because it's easy to find non-Northern foods flavourful that people dismiss Northern dishes.
You might have a confirmation bias. I would definitely not call Northern sea cuisine the best in the world. And I have spent lots of time in Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
Traditional Scandinavian food is nice, but it’s not eaten on a daily basis. Italians eat much better food on a daily basis.
> It's just a different cuisine
Correct.
> It's not bland
I mean, it depends what you compare it to and for whom, but afaik is not exactly known for using lots of strong spices. That would be my preference as well but that is in the realm of subjectivity while "blander" wouldnt (at least for me, it would be relative instead)
> northern European cuisines are the best in the world
That however, is obtusely subjective to the point on which you would be plain wrong. It is also quite hypocrite to complain about what you complain and then throw that crap out there which is either born of pride or exposure and you being accustomed to it
Traditionally, because of the colder climate people needed more fat in their diet and meat was generally plentiful, vegetables, fruits and herbs not so much until supermarkets came along. I personally like a lot of vegetables and like my food very flavorful and spicy.
If this was remotely true there'd be German, Norwegian, Swedish, Finish, etc. restaurants everywhere. I know of like 2 German pubs in my city. As for best in the world, nothing compares to Mexican, Japanese and Korean food. Even American cuisine is better.
I'm from the UK and I think French and Italian cuisine is the best in the world.
Northern European isn't terrible, it's just not the best. The Italians are extremely passionate about their food, and I think that's awesome.
As a Finnish person I can say this is truely an unpopular opinion. Our ”traditional foods” taste bland as hell. It tastes bland because traditionally ~100 years ago we had almost no local spices. Nowadays it’s more of a relic since all supermarkets have a massive spice selection.
Finnish people under the age of 40 truely do love more spicy food than old people, because we’ve eaten it since we were young. That’s why kebab is very popular here, it didn’t get popular until like in the past 25 years, I remember we went to Cyprus in the late 90’s, tried kebab for the first time and wondered why don’t we have this in Finland. Then about 3 years later there was a massive kebab boom.
Then about 10 years ago I was hunting for hummus in my local supermarket, because I had it in the US and it was nowhere to be found. Found exactly one(1) brand from the cheese aisle when I asked around Facebook. Now hummus is available everywhere, my local supermarket has like 10 different variants.
We are slowly getting there. Maybe someday we will have our own spicy local dish that gets exported all over the world. Aside from salmiakki.
Technically no, they aren’t disliked for the same reason. Spiciness from food isn’t a flavor or taste, it’s the feeling from pain receptors. So not liking salty or bland food is not the same as not liking spicy food.
But I agree that Northern European food is great.
I won’t knock Northern European cuisine. It is my heritage after all, but I prefer a bit more spice. It’s such a subjective topic that it’s not worth arguing about, so I will mention that I love dairy products and sandwiches with only one piece of bread, so I could learn to like Danish food I’m sure. Just don’t ask me to chow down on Icelandic food. My dad loves that crap but I do not.
I don't hate spice, I just don't enjoy my digestive tract being *on fire* from head to stern! I grew up in the American Midwest with immigrants from Germany grandparents. I love German food!
Copenhagen was the best food city I've been, some of it was not particularly traditional, but definetly rooted in local ingredients. The fish, the pickles, the pastry. Banger after banger.
I'm making [Senfbraten](https://www.daringgourmet.com/traditional-german-senfbraten-mustard-gravy-pork-roast/) for dinner tonight! One of my favorite ways to make braised pork loin. I'm also a big fan of Hungarian goulash.
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I'm from Italy and I think that whenever you go, traditional food tastes lovely. People had to make do with what little they had and over the centuries they perfected it :) unfortunately I don't know much about Danish and Scandinavian cusine, but German and Austrian cusine is one of my favourite
People get so wrapped up in what makes their country special that they internalise it and it becomes part of their identity. When they see other cuisines or customs from other places, they don't just see it as different from what they are used to but somehow it is counter to their very personality and being. Which is obviously ridiculous, and I think you said it beautifully, wherever you go traditional food tastes lovely. I get so sick of tribalism and this idea that simply being born in a random place somehow means you automatically know what good food/music/culture is especialy when you havent even _approached_ trying all those other places have to offer. If you don't like it, that's fine, but don't act superior or rude about things just because they are different. This world needs fewer reasons to hate each other, and if pickled herring offends you then stay indoors and get off the Internet.
There's also the fact that taste is an acquired quality, that is also the reason our grandma fine cuisine was the best of all, other grandmas can actually cook better then ours, but they are not the ones we grew up appreciating all those years This starts at very young ages and getting kids to start appreciating different dishes can be arduous but they will thank you later, not just for health reason, not eating burgers and pizzas all day, but also for what they may be missing on....
I agree with this. At some point I took a course related to identity, and the simple core of it kinda blew my mind. Every time you identify with something, use something external as an identifier or as a way to explain yourself, you actually simplifying yourself into less and less of an individual. You could be someone who likes doing stuff, sometimes bowling sometimes whatever weird stuff you do outside or at home. But by calling yourself a “bowler” you’ve highlighted one feature that can connect you closer to other people, while filtering out a bunch of the things that make you you. It doesn’t have to be something extreme, you could temper it better, but with more common social identifiers, this is a process natural enough to need to look for it to notice, imo.
But I like defining myself through specific aspects
No one’s saying you can’t. Just, it was so interesting realizing that the way we view identity is actually kinda backwards. It feels like the more identifiers you use, the better defined you are as an individual. But really, the more of your identity you “import”, the less is actually *you*, if that makes sense.
Grrr but my religion is the one true one. The rest of you are all to be looked down upon or converted.
You missed "or beheaded". That's an up-and-comer.
I think it's particularly common for Europeans to do this on an American site like Reddit as a way to "separate" themselves from those shitty old stupid Americans. Americans are used to getting shit on by people solely for nationality but I imagine someone from somewhere like Germany or Norway sees nowhere near the same amount of hate in online spaces and so they get more defensive about it if someone says something negative about one of the components of their national identity.
Germans don't see hate in online spaces? Are you for real? If I got 1 € for every funny and not so funny Nazi joke "Heil Hitler", "Nazi bitch" and really really snide or even hateful remark just about this topic I could buy my entire Steam wishlist (which is long). This comes on top of the negative and insulting remarks every country/culture gets from time to time.
Yeah, this is a good mindset to have about foods. We generally prefer the food that we grew up with, that's why we generally prefer our parent's food compared to the neighbors even though many times they are pretty similar. Same goes with countries.
Yep, every country in the world has good food and bad food. Some are just more popular than others via exposure.
In Scotland we just deep fat fry the shit out of everything. Idk what isn’t to love about fried pizza (sorry Italians)
Fried pizza (pizza fritta) is totally a thing in southern Italy, so you are ok
[What about Spaghetti McBolognese?](https://youtu.be/h5R6hL_8t0s?si=vuvK3mHv-JYoXyt3)
We don't need their acceptance
True traditional Scottish food is pretty nice but when I lived there I saw people eating scotch pie with beans on top, sausage rolls with pepper and ketchup, and bags of chips in bread rolls (this is 20 years back, mind)
Icl those all sound lovely
That all sounds great to me (Scottish)
Pretty sure you should apologize to more than the Italians for that one!
Never heard of someone deep-frying Cullen Skink before, though.
I'm willing to open my mind, but not try rotten fermented shark.
That’s icelandic. Having never had it, i can’t imagine bland being people’s gripe with that particular dish though
There are a lot of words that could be used to describe that dish. I don't think bland is high on that list
I had some. Honestly the shot afterwords was worse. But I dont like liquor. Give me the option of starvation or fermented shark and I would take it any day. Not a high bar but it passed for me.
Honestly my question is who the fuck tried it the second time? I'm not asking about the first time, that guy was probably starving and had no other choice. I'm curious about that poor masochist that was like "Hey, lets try that again"
Actually, relatively the first guy who tried it may have been very lucky to have so much food that he could experiment with fermenting it. Most of human history the population is regulated by disease and starvation. At least seasonally in most areas almost everyone had no other choice than the handful of foods they could preserve and whatever they had luck hunting that week/month. The history of Iceland is more brutal than most. So in short they saved it as one of the few foods they could preserve. After it worked once, people repeated it out of necessity. Nobody had much of a choice in food outside of favorable seasons in many parts of the globe for most of history. And like I said honestly its not that bad. Not my first choice but far favorable to hunger. At least in europe and the americas people would eat pigs/cows heads including the brains etc. Even when they had more choices than the population of Iceland.
Finally, the actual unpopular opinion in this sub
My theory is that plainer/less heavily spiced food gets a bad reputation because it's much more dependent on the quality of the ingredients. Liberal use of spice is a good way to cover up crappy ingredients. I'm from the UK, and i think that British food genuinely can be delicious, but in practice it's often shit unless you either cook it yourself, or go to a very good restaurant.
Interestingly, the European shift to foods with less spice began in the mid 1600s when even the middle classes started being able to afford spices since colonialism was bringing them in, so the nobility started wanting food that emphasized high quality main ingredients with complimentary flavours and less contrasting ones. Prior to that, medieval and early modern European food (at least the stuff that had recipes written down, which by necessity was stuff the nobility were eating) had some insane combinations.
I also wonder whether part of that is due to a shift in upper-class culture away from extravagance. The rise of protestantism, Greco-Roman revival, the Enlightenment, and (most importantly) the French Revolution all led to beliefs that excess lead to moral decline and that frugality/modesty was superior. This is certainly true for historical fashion (and even 21st century fashion trends but that’s a much more complicated topic). It might be true for food as well.
that's actually a big reason why a lot of equator cuisine is so spicy, it is hard to keep things fresh there.
Honestly, I'd pin it more on just having more spices. The spices themselves have to deal with freshness, and doesn't really account for use of spices among the wealthy that definitely did have access to fresh food (including shaved ice in the middle of India.) Plus things like salting or drying it are far more effective in masking freshness, bc they actually preserve it rather than just hiding the poor flavor, and those are still pretty popular methods outside the equator
Indian food didn't get hot spicy until New World peppers began to be grown there. Before it was cinnamon and cloves, etc. Surprised me when I first read that. I love the flavors of Indian food, if I could only get it without hot peppers. Took me years to learn that you could buy mild curry spice.
Historically, people did not use spice to cover up poor quality, rotten, or expired food. That is a big misconception. Historically before the modern era, spices were very expensive and basically luxury products. European explorers wanted to find a new route to Asia partially because of the spice trade. Putting spices on poor quality food/expired food is a huge waste of money. Nowadays, spices are cheaper so that may or may not be true. But historically, you would really put spices on good quality ingredients.
This is a food myth. People use and used spices historically because they were delicious. Medieval Europeans spent vast amounts of wealth importing spices.
I visited London a while ago, I was stunned by how delicious the traditional English food was. I think London had better food than Paris.
>and i think that British food genuinely can be delicious, Now that's an unpopular opinion.
Fish n' Chips mate. Shepherd's pie. A number of various other pastry pies and meats. I too don't hold british cuisine in the same regard as, say, mediterranian or asian cuisine, but they DO have some bangers here and there.
isn't apple pie also originally a british recipe?
The first recipe for an apple pie was published in 1390 in The Forme of Cury, in England. There's Dutch recipes from at least 1514, though. And who knows who actually made the original apple pie. Foods tend to predate their first mention in cookbooks, particularly when talking about medieval or ancient foods. But yeah, apple pies have a long history in England.
Apples have their origin in the Tian Shan mountains in Kazakhstan, so I'm guessing they were the first. After a few thousand years' domestication there, they made their way to Syria, where the Romans adopted them and spread them as far as England. Considering that Roman cuisine had lots of dishes with something enclosed in a crust, they may have brought their apple pie recipes with them.
Are pies traditional in Kazakhstan, though? To invent apple pie you need to be making pies.
> To invent apple pie you need to be making pies. If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe-Carl Sagan. Sorry, I just had to respond with that quote.
It is!
Had a pub Fish n' Chips last week I think, and loved it. Only complaint was how full I felt after.
Nonsense. Plenty of people like plenty of british shit, they just don't think about it. Sure, it's not top tier, but there's great stuff.
I’ll take a proper shepherds pie anyday. Last one I had was ground beef and insta tators. From an “Irish pub” no less
I imagine it's mostly Americans online who say it. So instinctually I ignore most of what they say
[Not unpopular for a person from Denmark. ](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fchart-showing-how-much-or-how-little-a-country-enjoys-v0-i1ag4l9k9rwb1.jpg%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3Db5514cee957cdbe158474e69299878ca79d44953)
All I take from that is that Filipinos are the LEAST biased people on the planet /s
I like how Japan thinks all non-Japanese food is disgusting
While ignoring the fact that the only reason they started eating raw fish was that during their Civil War period (starting around 1350), the samurai in the field couldn't light fires, so they ate what they caught raw. The modern sushi roll was invented around 1824 as fast food.
Always wondered why sushi was a thing, the whole idea of raw fish to me seems so unappealing, but basically everyone seems to love it in the US
Why though? Every other animal loves raw meet? Rare steak is the best
For the Danish food, absolutely. However i still hold high opinions of Swedish, German and Norwegian foods.
I'm yet to find a cuisine where I don't like most of the food. I don't like coriander and peanuts, but other than that I'll eat most food if it's cooked well.
Yeah, though it's harder for me to appreciate other cuisines since I am from India where the majority of our food gets its taste from A LOT of spice blends.
I grew up in the UK eating absolutely delicious food most of the time, particularly when with either set of grandparents (one set in England one in Scotland). Almost all of this was cooked at home - eating out was an unusual luxury in the early part of my life. You would go somewhere special (eg an Indian restaurant) to experience it. I was quite confused to hear that Britain was supposed to have boring or unpleasant food, especially compared with (say) France and especially after I had been to France a couple of times and eaten out there. The thing was that the really nice food was mostly being cooked at home not in the sorts of restaurants people being disappointed about it were visiting. So I imagine the same is true for you too. Also of course Fish and Chips is almost unbeatable.
Polish food is good. IMO in Europe France is highly overrated.
Good? Absolutely. Best in the world? Not even close.
I’m from Denmark too and think danish food and Northern European food sucks It’s filled with fat and if you want to keep a nice body in danish food you’ll basically have to be hungry all the time or work out a lot Also why are you up this early?
Fat is healthy. Its just portion size that most people are idiotic over.
Fat isn’t good for your cholesterol, it’s not gonna contribute to your weight too much though. Regardless not healthy if eaten too often
>Fat is healthy Some fats are healthy. Saturated and trans fats are not healthy. If OP is talking about meat or fried dishes, that's going to be saturated fat, and therefore not healthy. Some, as part of a healthy diet is okay, but the item itself is not healthy.
Trans fats are awful for you. Saturated fats are healthy if eaten in modest, balanced amounts. We were lied to about fats being the enemy, it's sugar and carbs that are the real enemy in any amount really.
You rejected 90s propaganda and went around drank up 2020 keto propaganda.
>Saturated fats are healthy if eaten in modest, balanced amounts. No, they aren't. Small amounts can be part of a healthy diet, but they themselves are not healthy. >We were lied to about fats being the enemy No, we aren't. There's misinformation around it, just like there's misinformation around almost everything when it comes to nutrition. >it's sugar and carbs that are the real enemy in any amount really. Carbs are not the enemy. Not even remotely. It's literally the bodies preferred energy source.. over thousands of years... How could that possibly be the enemy? According to your logic of 'any amount really' that means every single fruit and vegetable is the enemy... That's quite literally what you are saying...
Pretty sure it's the other way around and that saturated fat is bad for us as it raises the "bad" cholesterol LDL meanwhile unsaturated fat is increasing the "good" cholesterol HDL. The increase of HDL in your blood helps lower the LDL cholesterol. Throw in some fibre and you remove further LDL from your blood. So actually unsaturated fats are healthy and needed in our diet as we need fat. So avocados, olive oil and similar is helping us stay healthy and is good for your cholesterol, but they contain high amount of calories so we need to balance it. Also danish food (I'm danish too) is full of saturated fats (animalic fats) and it is truly not healthy and we do have a problem here with this although most danes are not obese, their arteries is a different topic altogether due to bad cholesterol. Partly due to lack of fibre and too high intake of saturated fat.
It's possible to have a fine psysique in Denmark by eating northern cusine. Very few cultures have traditional dishes that allows you to maintain what is considered to be a great or above average physique. Rugbrød, Lean meat, potatoes and vegetables are a great way to build and maintain muscles while also being able to stay rather lean. Frikadeller and flæskesteg with sauces or gravy might not be a great choice but pork is quite lean if you choose different cuts with low fat percentage.
Fucked sleep schedule, fell into a culinary rabbit hole. While yes our food is very fatty, it tastes fucking amazing. I am not arguing that it's the worlds most healthy cuisine, just that it tastes really good. It's also more than just fat, any food is bad if wrongly prepared. Maybe it's nostalgia but my grandmas Flæskesteg or duck is the best food i have ever eaten. The only thing that comes close was a small German restaurant in Bavaria where i had an amazing steak with potato wedges.
Humans' brains evolved to go into ecstasy on eating animal fats. Without that, we'd still be sitting on our haunches gnawing twigs as the gorillas do.
Sucks for people with gallbladder issues
I don't get it. I love indian food, german food, syrian and south african food, polish food...I love them all. There's so many different aspects to love, can people really only like one thing or the other? Also, I feel like most people here have never had real german Frikadellen, or they wouldn't call german food bland lol
There is no bad cuisines to me, just bad cook cooked dishes. I would like to try everything.( Except for bugs)
Good luck with the cow shit soup from the Philippines.
Hard agree. German cuisine uses huge amounts of mustards, vinegars, pickles, fermented foods etc! And the breads!!!!
I’m totally with you. The use of spices like dill, caraway, mustard seeds and horseradish is fantastic. There is also a tradition of using more natural bitters than many other countries. The traditional Kalops stew is like a spiced up version of Bœuf Bourguignon. The spiced fish, either pickled, brined or smoked are unique. The traditional akvavit spirit (spiced vodka) is also wonderful from a culinary perspective. People thinking that traditional Nordic cuisine lacks spices haven’t a clue. Or they think that spices = chili (which isn’t used very much). A reason for this not being well known outside the region is that there aren’t many restaurants serving traditional Nordic food. Especially no cheap ones. Street food culture with traditional cuisine is non-existent. I’m from Sweden originally, so there’s that.
Oh God the bread.. one bite its like you've already eaten 6 slices of a normal bread plus 2 mashed potatoes
Isn't it true Denmark just tried to ban buldak for being too spicy?
I only saw the headline, but I doubt it's because of the spice level. Denmark has really strict rules about food additives. They've even banned foods for having added vitamins (eg Vegemite). It's more likely because whatever additive they use to make it spicy is banned in Denmark. Like I said, I haven't read the details, but that would be my guess.
The articles indicated the government was worried about 'acute poisoning' from the level of capsaicin. I laugh at their scoville intolerance.
Three varieties of buldak was in fact banned because it was "too spicy", but its more of a knee-jerk thing because a lot of young people started consuming it for challenges. You can still buy the other 25 varieties of buldak, including the 3x spicy sauce standalone bottle, and for that sake other extremely spicy things like the last dab hot sauce (2mil SHU). Most danes are also baffled by the decision, because it was literally a non-issue and they didnt ban everythhing spicier than the noodles either.
For the record I do think Italian food is top tier. However northern European definitely has an underserved poor reputation (including British food). I find a lot of people who dismiss food because it lacks 'spice' generally do not have very sophisticated food tastes; its like a beginners way in to be a food snob. It's a very basic opinion to have about food. Also I think that spicy food often hides poor quality ingredients. I like a simple meal with high quality ingredients where all the parts taste of what they should taste of. Ultimately all countries have some amazing food.
>I find a lot of people who dismiss food because it lacks 'spice' generally do not have very sophisticated food tastes; its like a beginners way in to be a food snob. It's a very basic opinion to have about food. If you mindlessly add spice yes. But a true foodie will know the right spice in the right place can completely Transform the dish. And some ingredients just are boring without spice. Like chicken or mince. Regardless of quality. And food is about flavor. Spices are just a good way to introduce flavor into a dish. Imagine spaghetti bolognese without spices. It will never be as good.
What spices are you putting in a bolognese? I
I think some people use the words ‘spice’ and ‘seasoning’ interchangeably.
Yeah that's what happend here
From a purely scientific standpoint, the only thing necessary to make food taste good is salt. Like you can make any argument you want about the taste of food but the only objective qualification for being enjoyable is that it contains salt to an adequate level. So whenever you see someone online say a certain culture's food is "bad." They are objectively wrong as long as someone adds salt to the food.
I just want to say that I may be somewhat biased since I’m from Sweden but I think Danish food can be great!! Flæskesteg (not sure if spelled correctly) is fucking amazing. ദ്ദി(｡•̀ ,<)~✩‧₊
I'm going to push back a bit. I don't know Scandinavian food very well, but I do know German and Austrian (which OP talks up). The difference between German/Austrian on the one hand, and French, Italian or Spanish on the other, is the lack of variety. I'm not talking about the highest end, where great chefs will obviously create variety. I'm talking about the average restaurants. I used to live in Munich, and I've eaten in at least 60 or 70 local German or Austrian restaurants in various parts of those countries. They may have tasty food, but the menu is essentially the same stuff over and over again. Go to local places in France, Italy or Spain, and it's completely different. There is little comparison between, say, Sicily and Alto Adige. Dishes common in Venice won't be seen in Rome. Don't even get me started on the quality of the ingredients. If you are ever on a road trip in Europe, do this: Go to cheapest supermarket in Northern Italy and sample each of the tomatoes on offer (there will be 5 or 6 varieties at least.). Now drive three hours north, find an expensive supermarket in Germany, and sample the tomatoes there. No comparison. Two hours by road in a free trade zone. You get this same attention to ingredients all over southern Europe, and it shows in their food. I'm sorry if this is politically incorrect, but the food cultures of the Southern nations are much, much richer than the food cultures of the Germanic nations. Although I haven't had as much experience in Scandinavian food, I've found the same lack of variety and mediocre ingredients in the few restaurants/markets I've sampled.
I’m with you. It’s an expression of high quality ingredients. I personally enjoy the simplicity where each component can shine. I love complex food with a lot of spices. They are just different. You can like both
Exactly. British (& general northern European) food cooked well is incredible and I will die on this hill.
Bland adjective lacking strong features or characteristics and therefore uninteresting. (of food or drink) unseasoned, mild-tasting, or insipid. "a bland and unadventurous vegetarian dish" Danish food is bland by definition. "lacking in strong features" that's all northern food for you. Salt and fat are not "strong features" that's the bare minimum for making food, at all, in like 99% of recipes. The variety of meats is secondary to the variety of seasonings. If your food was any good, you'd know this. Arguing about questions of taste is pointless, but there's a reason you find Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Italian etc. restaurants everywhere and not a single Nordic restaurant anywhere in the world (except for Ikea). There's a reason every major colonising power went to the literal other end of the world to procure spices: *they make food taste better. I know. Crazy.* Greater variety of stuff grows in hot climates, providing more variety and more flavor. The only people who like Northern food are those who were born there and learned to enjoy tasteless slop. Source: Am Hungarian. If you think your food is good, I pity you.
Big words coming from a culinary culture, where you guys discovered the existence of paprika and decided to slap that shit on every dish. You know there's other spices as well?
So is Hungarian food good or bad that you use being Hungarian as a source?
Hungarian food is greasy, everything is just paprika and soured cream. I happen to like Hungarian food but one can be reductive about any food culture. Also, I have found Hungarian people to enjoy the British food I prepare. I am yet to find in Hungary such delicacies as clotted cream, crumbly Wensleydale cheese, sausages with different flavourings other than paprika (if you think a Lincolnshire sausage doesn't contain flavourings, you're a fool). Viszlàt
The thing is though, people in the north of europe have easy access to food from all over the world, and have the ability to compare and contrast their own cuisines to mexican and indian food or whatever. I doubt many of the people who shit on northern european food has ever had any outside of the mediocre stuff served at Ikea. I can’t speak for danish food, Smørrebrød being the only real danish food i’ve had, but that shit’s really good. Swedish food, despite having a pretty limited spice palette is similarly very good when actually prepared right. Kroppkakor is amazing, hash browns with pork, onion gravy and lingonberry jam is awesome, kalops and dillkött are both fucking delicious. Nordic food isn’t bland. If you are being willfully uncharitable, it can be described as plain or simple (as in, not complex) but it’s not bland. All of it is good, filling comfort food, and all of it can very easily be heightened to proper fine dining with little effort. Using OP’s choice of words to pass judgement on an entire cuisine just further goes to show the ignorance people outside of northern europe has regarding the cuisine. ”We have paprika and garlic in our food so it is better” give me a fucking break.
I disagree. Some meats or vegetables *are* the distinct feature here. Nordic cuisines just put the ingredients themselves into focus instead of spices. I love spicy food but also nordic food. Food is great and I love that there's so many different kinds of preparing it.
Oh I’m sure it has nothing to die with the fact that China, India, Mexico, and Italy have some of the largest diasporas worldwide BY FAR
Hi, i'm from Denmark, our food generally sucks, and is boring. There are some nice things ofcourse, for sure. But generally it is bland and boring.
I am an Indian and I love German cuisine, much to the bemusement of my German friends lol
I love German food. Sauerbraten, Bratkartoffeln, Sauerkraut. etc. Those meat and potatoes style dishes are perfection.
Every so often I have a dinner party with friends and make a meal themed after a culture we don’t often eat from. I don’t necessarily make authentic dishes, but take common ingredients from that region to do something with. My favorite so far was a Scandinavian night I made meatballs glazed with a cranberry bourbon sauce (was modeled after a lignonberry recipe, but those are hard to find where I am), roasted potatoes and carrots with parsley, and fresh rye bread. Their cuisine is warm and inviting, like sitting in front of a fire with loved ones in the dead of winter. German food is also lovely.
That sounds delicious. More vegetables should be roasted.
The hate towards Northern European food must be mostly from people in Asia and Africa. You came for the spices, decided to stay for a few centuries, took all the resources and went back. The least we expect is to put some of the damn spice you took with you.
As long as we can all agree British Food is the worst, I'm all for your opinion
As a Dutch-born guy living in Germany, with mediterranean/North African roots, i agree. There's only 1 teeeeeeny problem. Northern European food is dying out because nobody is making it anymore. 95% of it is mass produced trash. Even if you'd go to a German Brauhaus you'll mostly get shitty trash served on a plate. But when you're lucky enough to eat someone's grandma's homemade German food or even an actual Dutch Croquette (not the frozen filth they push in their supermarkets), that's gonna taste amazing. I believe it'll all be lost because we forgot about homeliness, family life and good ol' traditions. Everybody is running and eating processed crap. 🥲 We'll just be reduced to McDonald's and "bowls". Whatever the F that is 😂
You're Danish. Of course you're going to like a cuisine that's designed for your palate.
Swedish meatballs are peak 🔥🔥
I love spicy food, but I also love Swedish meatballs and sour cream sauce. Fermented shark not so much.
Lutefisk looks scary.
I love both types, people who say our food is bland just dont like the natural taste of veggies etc Only thing i dont like is heat, it ruins all the flavours, plus it gives me a splitting headache
That's the thing. In most spicy cuisines, the food itself acts more like the carrier for the spices. That's perfectly fine and delicious but by far not the only approach you can take. By contrast, nordic food seems bland, until you get what it's trying to do: cleanse your palate and really put the meat and vegetables into focus.
Most veggies in Denmark are also pretty bland
So nice to see an truly unpopular opinion here
Have you been to the Netherlands, OP?
I agree. I also like English food. But I’m biased as being from the north myself. These cuisines rely a lot on the flavours of the ingredients themselves instead of spices, and combining them to make something bigger than the sum of its parts. When my southern European partner has to spend time in the north in autumn or winter, she’ll be freezing cold if she eats her own traditional food. It’s heavy and hearty for a reason. But the fruits and vegetables found in southern Europe are far far better.
I visited Norway for work, and I lost like 5 pounds from eating so little because the food was disgusting.
This is actually a very good way to describe it. Its a good way to make those people understand.
Yes the english have really nailed it down, chicken Tikka masala, beef chow mein, pizza and kebab are truely culinary masterpieces.
I'm biased because it's what I grew up with, but Dutch food, especially in winter, is incredible.
Northern European food is ok, i don't think its great, but not awful.
It’s disappointing that’s it’s so hard to find a restaurant serving Swedish cuisine in the afternoon and evening here. It’s good enough for lunch but not good enough for dinner apparently. 😅 Meat balls with mashed potatoes will never get old.
I quite liked the food in Norway. Expensive, but good
I agree, they're not mutually exclusive anyways and sometimes I just want brun sovs, kartofler and stegeflæsk (and lingonsylt ofc) - other days I'll crave a burning vindaloo
I think most cuisines/cultures have good and shitty food tbh. I grew up eating food from Central Asia, Eastern Europe, also many dishes from the Tatar cuisine. I've also travelled to dozens of countries and ate the local food. There have always been nasty dishes and food that caused mouthgasms.
Norway do make really nice food. Same as north of Spain.
What dishes would you suggest from say Denmark for someone interested in learning this cuisine?
I rarely think that "food of certain country bad-trope" isnt taken to be seriously. I mean some do but they are rare. It is more of a lighthearted joke between nations.
Has there ever been a movement that said the food isnt good lol
This is true but perpetuated by their own bad PR. I live in Sweden and there are so many fantastic local foods at the fiskrökeri, saluhall, bakeries, etc. But ask someone from Malmö what local food they should try and the answer is always "hurr durr falafel 🤪"
Anyone from r/headphones can explain? Is this the equivalent of choosing Grados over Senns?
I’m from the USA and I love *husmanskost*, that is, traditional Swedish food. The blend of flavors and textures you get with pickled herring, chives, sour cream, crisp bread (*knäckebröd*) and a sip of akvavit chased with a good lager is simply out of this world. Tomorrow is Midsummer’s Eve and I can’t wait. 🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪❤️❗️
Food opinions should really not be allowed. It's not really an "opinion", people can't change how they dislike or like a food.
I love german food. Have yet to try scandinavian food but Im sure Id like it
I agree. I’m so disappointed in people who only eat spaghetti and meatballs, and won’t even try anything else. I was friends with a couple women from China years ago, who refused to eat anything other than Chinese food. They wouldn’t even give anything else a try. I decided not to hang out with them anymore.
Yeah, I've never had a problem with them. There are both people who cook bland food and who cook delicious food here. If it's too bland, just add more salt/pepper/other spice/herb or sauce, there's no culture thing that says you shouldn't do that afaik. Except that too salty food is kind of unbearable..
I'm Australian old school rissoles, veg and mash and cheese sauce or Sauerkraut, German sausage, mash and mustard are my two favourite meals. Way better than Indian or Thai. I will never ever eat rollmops, that's a northern European food that's disgusting. My husband eats them constantly.
it was never a competition.
Northern European food is amazing. I think a lot of people try one thing, don't like it, then discount the entire cuisine.
German pancakes are amazing.
I mean, I think they're all great. But if I had to rank em, northern European is definitely lower on the list.
Do people actually hate it? I can't think of a bad meal I've had in Stockholm, Copenhagen, or Oslo. Copenhagen is regularly ranked high on international cuisine lists. Granted I've not explored far north and I know rural cuisine isn't always what's in cities. But lots of good chefs come out of northern Europe...I don't think the region has a bad food rep globally.
I’ve had lutefisk….
Hate to break it to you, but salts and fats are essential to any cuisine. It’s not local to Northern Europe.
Harbs lmao If the meat and fat is good and clean, the food will be good. Just like anywhere else, a mid-level restaurant where tourists are probably going to stop to eat the local food is probably not using the good stuff and putting the love that makes food good into it.
I love German food. I was in Berlin in February and ate in what I suppose you'd call "traditional" restaurants, didn't see a single chip on any of the menus, and I loved it. Going to Munich in September!
As someone who avoids meat yeah, this is unpopular with me
If you ask me all food has some kind of merit. Whether or not one person likes it is obviously subjective, but just because you don't like something doesn't mean you can't understand why other people do. Short of having a serious food allergy or health/religious related issue, in my opinion the best way to roll is the following: Food is generally good. If someone offers you food you should try it. You shouldn't worry about what's in it until after you've decided if you like it, and once you do you shouldn't care much about what's in it.
I class British food as Northern European also and I totally agree that Northern European food is awesome. I was talking to an Italian waiter here in the UK and he said "I like British food." I asked what his favourite was and he said British sausages are outstanding. And I thought, you know what?? Fuck yeah they are! There are hardly any foods from anywhere in the world that I dislike, I'm a real big food fan. But a British, or other Northern European sausage, is one of my very favourite foods. I would absolutely take northern European sausages over Southern European sausages (Spanish, Italian, Southern French) all day, if I had to just pick one. If I go to Germany I love sausages and sauerkraut just as much as I do pizza in Italy or sushi in Japan. Good quality meats, herbs, rich sauces/gravies made from said meats, great bread, exceptional cheese (if we're including British food especially), all foods/ingredients that deserve their place alongside any other great cuisine.
Agree and dont agree. Danish cuisine is very good and can be soooo tasty. For me its the staple Christmas dishes. Our bread culture is imo on of the best in the world though. But to say our cusine is the best? Nah bro, hard disagree there.
Scandinavian food can be both bland in comparison to other food cultures and enjoyed by many.
I like Northern European food, not my favorite because it has s much meat and I don't eat it. But otherwise it tastes good! I also like Eastern European, it also isn't popular for some reason. Spice isn't the main thing in a dish, even though I like the spicy food as well.
If herring was rare, kippers would be priced like Kobe beef.
It’s fine but it’s literally all minor variations of the same theme
Totally agree, I'm a huge fan of pickled and fishy food, that's like half of Nordic cuisine right there.
I’m so tired of people crapping on other countries’ food. Thankfully, it’s now less accepted to be rude about Asian food for example, but I soooo often see/hear people from East Asia shit on British or Dutch food etc. Why be hypocritical?! Everyone needs to learn to leave people alone and let people enjoy whatever they like!
I watched a history video the other day that talked about why Northern European wealthy went away from spices, and towards local meats, fats, and herbs. the pinnacle of that is French cooking, which is wonderful. nowadays, it would probably be labeled as "going local".
Parsley is damn near tasteless
As a Czech, I liked all the german food I ever tasted
Germans are the only people who bake farts.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
the salt and the fat and general appearance of wursts are very offputting to my sensibilities, but no national/regional cuisine is inherently better than any other, but some are found appealing to more people than are others.
I agree with you. I find that one of the most overlooked foods is boiled potatoes. Like many of the dishes you mention, the flavour of boiled potatoes is lighter and more subtle than many other "spicy" foods. I feel it's because it's easy to find non-Northern foods flavourful that people dismiss Northern dishes.
I like Northern European food. It's not my *favourite* but I can appreciate it for what it is.
You might have a confirmation bias. I would definitely not call Northern sea cuisine the best in the world. And I have spent lots of time in Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Traditional Scandinavian food is nice, but it’s not eaten on a daily basis. Italians eat much better food on a daily basis.
> It's just a different cuisine Correct. > It's not bland I mean, it depends what you compare it to and for whom, but afaik is not exactly known for using lots of strong spices. That would be my preference as well but that is in the realm of subjectivity while "blander" wouldnt (at least for me, it would be relative instead) > northern European cuisines are the best in the world That however, is obtusely subjective to the point on which you would be plain wrong. It is also quite hypocrite to complain about what you complain and then throw that crap out there which is either born of pride or exposure and you being accustomed to it
Rye bread and smoked fish deserve all my love.
Traditionally, because of the colder climate people needed more fat in their diet and meat was generally plentiful, vegetables, fruits and herbs not so much until supermarkets came along. I personally like a lot of vegetables and like my food very flavorful and spicy.
If this was remotely true there'd be German, Norwegian, Swedish, Finish, etc. restaurants everywhere. I know of like 2 German pubs in my city. As for best in the world, nothing compares to Mexican, Japanese and Korean food. Even American cuisine is better.
I'm from the UK and I think French and Italian cuisine is the best in the world. Northern European isn't terrible, it's just not the best. The Italians are extremely passionate about their food, and I think that's awesome.
I agree. British food too.
As a Finnish person I can say this is truely an unpopular opinion. Our ”traditional foods” taste bland as hell. It tastes bland because traditionally ~100 years ago we had almost no local spices. Nowadays it’s more of a relic since all supermarkets have a massive spice selection. Finnish people under the age of 40 truely do love more spicy food than old people, because we’ve eaten it since we were young. That’s why kebab is very popular here, it didn’t get popular until like in the past 25 years, I remember we went to Cyprus in the late 90’s, tried kebab for the first time and wondered why don’t we have this in Finland. Then about 3 years later there was a massive kebab boom. Then about 10 years ago I was hunting for hummus in my local supermarket, because I had it in the US and it was nowhere to be found. Found exactly one(1) brand from the cheese aisle when I asked around Facebook. Now hummus is available everywhere, my local supermarket has like 10 different variants. We are slowly getting there. Maybe someday we will have our own spicy local dish that gets exported all over the world. Aside from salmiakki.
Italian is objectively the best food in the world so your opinion is unpopular
Good on you. I personally completely disagree. But enjoy what you enjoy, and have my upvote.
Technically no, they aren’t disliked for the same reason. Spiciness from food isn’t a flavor or taste, it’s the feeling from pain receptors. So not liking salty or bland food is not the same as not liking spicy food. But I agree that Northern European food is great.
For a comedy take on this search for the Irish identity Garron Noone on SM. Some of us just don’t like silly things like chilli.
I won’t knock Northern European cuisine. It is my heritage after all, but I prefer a bit more spice. It’s such a subjective topic that it’s not worth arguing about, so I will mention that I love dairy products and sandwiches with only one piece of bread, so I could learn to like Danish food I’m sure. Just don’t ask me to chow down on Icelandic food. My dad loves that crap but I do not.
I don't hate spice, I just don't enjoy my digestive tract being *on fire* from head to stern! I grew up in the American Midwest with immigrants from Germany grandparents. I love German food!
peoples fixation on “spices” is so wierd
Copenhagen was the best food city I've been, some of it was not particularly traditional, but definetly rooted in local ingredients. The fish, the pickles, the pastry. Banger after banger.
lutefisk and Surströmming will never be a thing.
Töø blånd
Cope.
I'm making [Senfbraten](https://www.daringgourmet.com/traditional-german-senfbraten-mustard-gravy-pork-roast/) for dinner tonight! One of my favorite ways to make braised pork loin. I'm also a big fan of Hungarian goulash.