International Representation

Hi all-
Does anyone know if all 195 countries are represented foodily in Chicagoland? Or at least in the Midwest?

Pie Lady wrote:Hi all-
Does anyone know if all 195 countries are represented foodily in Chicagoland? Or at least in the Midwest?

Without doing any research, I can confidently state that some of the world's countries are almost certainly not identifiably represented in our restaurant or food market industries. Just to cite a few examples, the cuisines of Vatican City, Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Palau, Nauru, and Tuvalu are unlikely to be found here.

nsxtasy wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:Hi all-
Does anyone know if all 195 countries are represented foodily in Chicagoland? Or at least in the Midwest?

Without doing any research, I can confidently state that some of the world's countries are almost certainly not identifiably represented in our restaurant or food market industries. Just to cite a few examples, the cuisines of Vatican City, Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Palau, Nauru, and Tuvalu are unlikely to be found here.

I agree with your main point here, but Vatican City cuisine? I've been there - it's literally in the middle of Rome. The food there is Italian food. There is no special cuisine there. I just had to nitpick but worth mentioning IMO. If you want to get technical, then pretty much any city with Roman cuisine has Vatican cuisine.

All in all, I'd be shocked if any city in the world has every country's cuisine represented and would highly doubt it.

marothisu wrote:
All in all, I'd be shocked if any city in the world has every country's cuisine represented and would highly doubt it.

Pretty sure every International House of Pancakes is required by law to make pancakes in the style of all 195 countries. Last time I was there, they *claimed* they were out of ingredients for the Nauru part of my Palau, Nauru, and Tuvalu combo platter, but after I started scream-crying and overturned my table, they brought it out right away. (It was fine. I’ve had better.)

Clarence Beeks wrote:

cilantro wrote:

marothisu wrote:
All in all, I'd be shocked if any city in the world has every country's cuisine represented and would highly doubt it.

Pretty sure every International House of Pancakes is required by law to make pancakes in the style of all 195 countries. Last time I was there, they *claimed* they were out of ingredients for the Nauru part of my Palau, Nauru, and Tuvalu combo platter, but after I started scream-crying and overturned my table, they brought it out right away. (It was fine. I’ve had better.)

dumbest.thread.ever. but at least it produced this. lol

They probably just subbed manatee. They use it in the skillet too.

Jazzfood wrote:

Clarence Beeks wrote:

cilantro wrote: [...]
Pretty sure every International House of Pancakes is required by law to make pancakes in the style of all 195 countries. Last time I was there, they *claimed* they were out of ingredients for the Nauru part of my Palau, Nauru, and Tuvalu combo platter, but after I started scream-crying and overturned my table, they brought it out right away. (It was fine. I’ve had better.)

dumbest.thread.ever. but at least it produced this. lol

They probably just subbed manatee. They use it in the skillet too.

Not to burst your bubble, Alan, but considering the current state of things*, I don't believe they even use real manatee (aka "poor man's mermaid") anymore.

Of late, instead of the real thing, you may well get Kramatee[tm] (--rhymes with "calamity")...which likely also speaks to cilantro's observation, "It was fine. I've had better."

--mhl

* FYI, this thread on 'Lies They Feed Us: "Wild," "Crab," Etc.'

mhl wrote: I don't believe they even use real manatee (aka "poor man's mermaid") anymore.

Actually burst out laughing! Nice.

Back during the 2014 World Cup, my wife and I tried to eat the cuisine of all 32 countries participating. We couldn't find, in Chicago proper at least, restaurants that were serving Australian, Portuguese or Cameroonian food. We ended up cooking those at home and we actually didn't complete the entire list of restaurants; we still had 6 or so to go when the calendar turned to 2015 which was our deadline.

The landscape may have changed since then and there may now be restaurants serving that cuisine, but I will say that even with the more limited 32 country (most of which are fairly large) list, we were unable to find everything we were looking for.

Northcenter Joe wrote:Back during the 2014 World Cup, my wife and I tried to eat the cuisine of all 32 countries participating. We couldn't find, in Chicago proper at least, restaurants that were serving Australian, Portuguese or Cameroonian food. We ended up cooking those at home and we actually didn't complete the entire list of restaurants; we still had 6 or so to go when the calendar turned to 2015 which was our deadline.

The landscape may have changed since then and there may now be restaurants serving that cuisine, but I will say that even with the more limited 32 country (most of which are fairly large) list, we were unable to find everything we were looking for.

Did you forget Outback Steakhouse?

There were a number of countries that were represented at the annual Tastes of Summer festival hosted by Saints Ita and Thomas of Canterbury in Edgewater. This year, they had Burmese, Colombian/Venezuelan, Cuban/Caribbean, Filipino, Haitian, Laotian, Central American, Maritius, Mexican, Nigerian, Polish, Vietnamese and "African Nations." I think they were all groups from the respective countries, not restaurants, but I'm not sure. It was pretty cool. I will post when the 2020 date is announced.

If you reduce/change the goal from 195 countries to the number of distinctive cuisines that might combine some countries in a region, I still very much doubt they're covered in the Chicago area. I don't think it's even close. I'm still waiting for a Cambodian restaurant to open, filling the void left by Angkor Restaurant's (Lombard) closure. I figure there's more demand for that than Icelandic, Finnish or New Zealand cuisine.

bweiny wrote:or New Zealand cuisine.

I was recently in the Portland of the Midwest, Minneapolis, and was blown away by the sheer number and variety of their food trucks. Including this one:

https://www.jamospies.com/

Hi,

The only time I have had Icelandic food was when I attended a Thorrablot hosted by the Icelandic Association of Chicago.

There was a demonstration of how a smoked lamb's head could be your favorite lunch. Rotted shark with black death schnapps was another featured treat. They have occasionally brought in a popular Icelandic band.

This happens every February, I really need to follow up and attend another one.

Regards,
Cathy2