What's your favourite European food ?

[FlashVoyager]

Originally Posted by Blood Axis

Could you give some examples?

Bouillabaisse and any French disk containing oyster and/or lobster.

[Blood Axis]

Got it!!!

Bouillabaisse...it is one of my favorite dishes ever

[Buccaneer]

I voted Italian. I really like pasta. I've been to Italy propably about 15 times and usually ate only pasta foods while there.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by FlashVoyager

Bouillabaisse and any French disk containing oyster and/or lobster.

Bullabesa is Provençal, Occitan cuisine.



In Valencia and Catalonia there is the Suquet. The usual ingredients are monkfish (a few other fish possible), shrimp, clam, tomato, potato, onion a mash of almonds, fried bread garlic, saffron, salt, pepper and olive oil. I also add a little of white wine. All boiled in a fish broth.



It takes time to prepare and cook, but it is a feast worth the effort.
Suquet literally means "little dip" in Catalan.

There are other variants with small shellfish, but for that I prefer the Caldereta de Llagosta (lobster) or de Llamàntol (crayfish), of the Balearic Islands.

[Lucas Corso]

Friulian obviously! Polente e frico forever!

Followed by Italian, Frech and German...

[Menydh]

For Western Iberia, the Marmitako (Basque Country) or Marmita de Bonito (Cantabria) is a ragout made with blue finn tuna, potatoes, green and thick red peppers, tomatoes, salt and olive oil.



I've cooked it with Mediterranean red tunna instead of Atlantic blue finn tuna, and it doesn't come half as good.

In Asturias, the Fabes con Almejas (Asturian grown beans with clams)



But when it comes to top quality shellfish, there is nothing like a good Galician Mariscada (Shellfish Treat). Plain and simple, boiled to its right point, and accompanied by a vinagrette (a difference with the Mediterranean, where it is usually smaller shellfish like prawns, prawns, crayfish, ... but grilled instead of boiled.

The stars in Galicia are barnacles, centola (female spider crab), nécora (swimming crab) langosta (lobster), lubrigante (crayfish), and poupo a feira (octopus with potatos, olive oil and paprika.



Other sea dishes in Iberia are the Zarzuela de Mariscos in Eastern Iberia



And the Cataplana in Western Iberia (Portugal)

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by Mynydd

Bullabesa is Provençal, Occitan cuisine.

Bolhabaissa.

This dish has in fact its origin in the Ancient Greece, during the foundation of Massalia (Marseille).

[Zbruch]

Italian food fan here but I think the russian one isnt bad either.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Zbruch

Italian food fan here but I think the russian one isnt bad either.

We all know about Italian food. Please, tell us about Russian food. You know, some list of recipes, ingredients, etc.

[Savorgnan]

I'll say Northern-Italian food and French food from Lyons (just slightly behind) are by far my favourites,and very likely the bests in Europe.

[Buery]

Bulgarian or Balkan food as a whole is my favourite. As for foreign cousines I like some German, Russian, Hungarian and Italian dishes.

[Vesainen]

[Tuurikerttu]

Finnish cuisine does not differ much from Swedish and Russian ones, except Swedish is more sweet and Russian may be more salty. German and Baltic cuisines are not so distant either.

The traditional Finnish cuisine has been quite rich in calories simply due to the fact that people consumed a lot of energy. Today the diet has to be more light of course, since very rare people have so physical work that requires large intakes in calories. But if traditional cuisine is followed, a diet would contain meat, lots of dairy products, sour rye bread, roots (such as carrots and turnips), arctic berries, mushrooms, vegetables. This kind of a diet (partially based on hunting and gathering) would be the most healthy for me also because of being pretty much CM also by metabolism.

Some of my favourites:

- dairy products in any forms (cheeses, youghurt, viili (processed sour milk), sour milk)
- creamy salmon soup
- fish in many forms, preferrably smoked
- different kinds of pasties
- pancakes with arctic berries
- game such as elk (reindeer is exotic, definitely delicious but eaten on daily basis only in Lapland)
- sour rye bread, most preferably baked with moderate heat and for a long time
- meatballs (ground meat, eggs, chaffed onions, oat flakes and spices)
- pea soup with smoked pork and mustard
- fish roe, preferrably smoked too... but salted is good too
- creamy tomato soup (dunno from which cuisine this is originally from)
- and last but not least, tomato in almost all forms

Additionally, besides typically Finnish cuisine, I have to admit that I'm fond of....

... American cuisine

Meaning a cuisine that has Italian and Mexican influences, the original Italian is delicious of course, by default (I love pesto and especially tomatoes, did I mention that already? ) but original Mexican food is simply disgusting. Mexican food American style is very delicious though.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Tuurikerttu

Meaning a cuisine that has Italian and Mexican influences

I just had for dinner something along those lines. Someone who just returned from a trip to Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, brought with him some fresh chilli peppers.

A couple of Italian friends who are staying with me for a few days cooked a pasta dish using one of the chilli peppers.

Basically a variation of the classic pasta al aglio, oleo e pepperoncino (garllic, olive oil and chilli or cayenne pepper), with the addition of fresh chopped tomatoes to it.

I'm not tolerant to hot spicy foods. I think that they are a big mistake because they leave your tongue and your palate unable to taste any other flavours. However, the sauce they made was so perfect that it was at the exact point where it would be hot spicy, but it was not.

edit: the sauce should have gone with fresh basil to finish it, but I had none and it was too late to get any.

Mexican food American style is very delicious though.

I think that what you mean is Tex-Mex, which is not quite Mexican cuisine.

[Sergius]

This may sound overly Euro-centric, but while Mexican food certainly has its good sides, it lacks the refined tastes of the best cuisines of Europe. The same goes for Indian and some other Asian types of food. Much of it is interesting and tasty, but it relies too heavily on over-use of certain elements such as chili and curry. It just strangles other aspects of the food.

Having said that, I can still eat more jalapeños than any of you!

[Exeter]

Do we have any Latvians or people who have been to Latvia? If so, what do you think of the restaurant chain Lido? I've heard they have wholesome food for a very cheap price.