Asklemmy

Is this something people track? What's considered "exotic?"

I've had buffalo wings, and American barbecue. Also I've been to American Thanksgiving meals with weird things like sweet potatoes with marshmallows on. So I've had some American ethnic food for one thing.

I don't know how to answer "exotic". "Exotic" can easily slip into xenophobic territory.

Maybe I answer with a restaurant from a specific culture that I had never been exposed to before? In which case, Himalayan/Tibetan/Nepalese. I could eat momos every day. But I say that about every savory-wrapped-in-dough thing. Dumplings, empanadas, bierocks, meat pies, xian bing, piroshki, is there a culture that doesn't have some variation of that? And it's always good. If ever there is need for a flag to represent Humanity, it should be of a savory pie.

Okay I won't hold it against you because I grew up Midwestern and to us Mexican and Chinese were considered "ethnic", but do realize that that is a very weird thing to just say. Now that I'm on the coast should I call tuna casserole or taco/breakfast food ethnic? Sounds weird right?

Next time you think ethnic food may be instead think of it like non-american food. To us, green bean casserole is a "normal" thing, to other people having a noodle dish is an appropriate normal holiday dish. "Normal" and "different" are all just from our point of view.

That's why you're being downvote, because you're on a world stage here, and when you're talking to someone and calling their food "ethnic" it demeans their culture, and that is a bit insulting. I am guessing it's just ignorance, but hey now you know.

That being said, have fun exploring your pallette! I've lost count of the different cuisines I've tried, but every one is a bit different! There's a Moroccan place that I really love going to, and I have had some really good Ethiopian. Sushi is always my go to favorite! Never be afraid of trying new things!

(And if you decide to post again I'm sure it will do better vote wise, because it is a really interesting question ;)

Outback Steak house ? Lol wot?

Indian food is amazing.

My favourite cuisines I've had which were not common ones you can just find on any high street here were mostly found during the height of covid when I was working quite a way from home but the hotel's restaurant was closed so I had to order delivery each night.

• Nigerian: Ordered this a few times, peppersoup, moin moin, draw soup, eba amongst the things I had. Soon after a West African section opened in my local supermarket so I could at least get some of the main ingredients to cook some at home.
• Ethiopian: Amazing, not tried cooking any yet, some ingredients seem hard to come by
• Afghan: Had a bunch of times as there was a restaurant in my town
• Sri Lankan: Love it, superficially similar to Indian food but I was surprised just how different it was and has become one of my favourites that I cook at home with regularity.

I grew up in the Bay Area so it would probably be easier to list the foods I haven't tried.

Unfortunately I moved and don't have access to 8/9ths of those anymore. It's dismal.

Georgian should be more well known imo. Ethiopian is also a top choice, Guyanese and Peruvian are also pretty good. I've had lots but these are the most underrated I've found

Ethnic and exotic food suddenly sound like very strange terms. This question made me realize that people from outside would call the food of my country simply Brazilian food, but we ourselves divide and subdivided them in more categories. I'm sure the same is true everywhere.

I know this is not a question for discussion, but I thought this could add more variety to the answers.

well barring that many of these ethnic restaurants might be serving things created in america. mexican, cuban, indian, pakistani, chinese, korean, japanese, thai, lithuanian, irish, english, french, italian, argentinian, greek, german, might be others but this is all I can think of. Honestly not sure what the falafel places are considered.

Wait, you thought Egyptian restaurants don’t exist? Especially for a melting pot like the US, I assume the opposite, that there is always a food place that serves a particular cuisine from somewhere in the world.

But to answer your question, and assuming by exotic, you mean anything that isn’t your standard fare American, European, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese, or Japanese food, then I’ve had:

• Ethiopian
• Thai
• Singaporean
• Filipino
• Taiwanese
• Iraqi
• Afghan
• Indian

I live in the south, and we don't have many Mexican restaurants. We have more Asian restaurants. Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese. Also Ethiopian is delicious.

I love Chinese food and will eat it almost daily.

I have eaten Romanian food , Polish food , Guatemalan food , Salvadorian food , most of the Latin American countries.

I've had my fun around here and lately found more unusual ones... Here's stuff I remember off the top of my head that aren't the "local" around here (Lisboa, PT), append restaurant to the following:

Indian Nepalese Tibetan Cantonese Chinese Cantonese dimsun Japanese Several Fusion sushi, ramen, udon, tempura etc Spanish tapas Mexican Peruan Peruan cheviche Argentinian grilk Brazilian rodízio Brazilian(Paulista) pizza, Indian pizza, Israeli pizza, local pizza, actual Italian pizza Italian Greek Greek pita Levantine Morrocan Thematic medieval American American diner American grill Mozambican Angolan Cape verdian Ethiopian German sausage Vietnamese Indonesian Australian grill Belgian fries Canadian fries

Whenever I added something to the nationality the place focused on a dish rather than a broader cuisine. I'm surprised I never visited a self entitled French restaurant over here... The Swiss and French have all those tartar and grilled tiny chicken that could make success in a thematic restaurant.

Edit: might also add, I'm sure all of these are adapted to the local taste. We don't handle spice like most of Asia and Mexico for example. Friends who ate in Shanghai described a very different experience to what we get in a Chinese restaurant here, even if the dishes are the same.

• Chinese
• Japanese
• Korean
• Vietnamese
• Malaysian
• North and South Indian
• Ethiopian
• Lebanese
• Greek
• Italian
• Mexican
• Caribbean
• some African (not sure the region)
• Swedish if you count what Ikea serves at their restaurants :)