I am going to have to state that when it comes to cuisine the USA is really in LAST place. I mean you might say "Continent of Africa" but like say, Ethiopian cuisine is really delicious. I don't know maybe authentic Mexican food has us beat. I only ever had this delightful thing called "Tex Mex" and well, then I moved to Arizona an not only ENCOUNTERED Menudo but I had to eat it Every Dann Pot luck. It's not the intestines either Pho is DELICIOUS. But, it was apparent my coworkers knew about my Menudo thing because every darn pot luck, I would get someone saying "Have you tried my Menudo yet?" and it always tasted like, not dope. Honestly, it's a very HEALTHY diet but a) that is because it is IMPOSSIBLE to eat "too much" you just eat as much as you can take, not a bite more and b) there is something wrong with a food culture where close to 95% of the dishes, including "desert," have to be liberally doused in hot sauce to even be ABLE to eat them and they also eat a pound of like, mashed up ants. Kinda like Australia, the native food is, ah, freaky (if you ask me) and the Colonial food is just boring.
At least when the French colonized Vietnam like, they did something gastronomically AWESOME with it.
Although I will say the worst thing maybe I EVER ate was chicken feet at this more or less authentic Vietnamize place and I did not like it at all. For one, it had that "old Asian food palace smell" where you want to be like, "You need to redecorate and just tear it all down! I mean, I get you have no money because not that many people eat here but that is because your 20 year old furnishings and kitchen are not HOLDING UP. So to get people here, you need to like, take out a loan."
It was run by this very frightening maven of a Vietnamese woman and she was like in love with my little brother where like, I could never tell how she thought I was related to him, but in whatever manner, I was clearly not acceptable. He'd go to the ba
throom and I would just be like, "Oh God, let her not come over here dude, she's had murder in your eyes before." So he took me a bunch and I thought maybe the maven might approve so I agreed to try chicken feet after the umpteenth time (he's like this low key nagger, too.) They were refrigerator cold. You could feel the skin's texture. I could not tell if or how they were cooked, and maybe they were pickled somehow, Kind of this rubbery bounce off your teeth texture. You'd think with chicken feet, you'd make a effort right? A fancy sauce? Some Vietnam peanut sauce which the Vietnamese have actually made PALATABLE somehow, how, I know not. Some Hemlock even to wash out your mouth after, in case you needed it. But no. They were served with some bean sprouts and like, a SMALL piece of lime.
If I have not yet insulted a culture regarding its cooking do let me know (I have a feeling) I will try to work it in another time.
But yeah, maybe one bite was not enough to accustom myself to the chicken feet experience but somehow, I feel it also completely was enough.
Anna