What's your favorite ethnic foods?

[AccountingDrone]

What I love about playing with ethnic foods is the sheer variety of flavor you can get - keeping in mind I grew up at the tail end of the Bland Era [Baby Boomers and the Depression/War generation.]

Many people who are younger than I am don't realize how good they have it. The grocery store in the town I grew up in after we moved back to the US was an IGA. It was common for groceries of the time [mid 1960s] to be about the size of an Aldi. This was the era that James Lilieks makes fun of, and most of what you see on his site was what was going on. I can remember my dad having friends in California sending us fresh artichokes in a time when those marinated artichokes in a jar was the height of exotic. I had a friend over for dinner, and my Mom planned shrimp, scalloped potatoes and artichokes vinaigrette, and she refused to eat anything except the damned boring potatoes. The wonders of landlocked western NY - the closest thing to shrimp she had ever had was fish fingers and tartar sauce in school, and she had never seen an artichoke in her short little life ... Today kids get sushi and pad thai as soon as they are weaned it seems.

[Jester]

Sushi. Love it. Eat it every year on my birthday, and throughout the rest of the year.

Jewish food. Grew up on it. My family's Jewish.

Italian food. Grew up on it. My Mom cooked a lot of Italian. We literally had pasta about three times a week growing up. (Amusingly, Mom has never made Jewish food, and I doubt she has the vaguest idea how to make matzoh ball soup. THANKS, GRANDMA!)

Mexican food. I'm from Arizona. Chile rellenos, tamales, menudo, chorizo in anything, sopapillas, etc. Not a huge fan of mole, though.

Irish food. Yes, I said IRISH food. I have a weakness for all things Irish,moron the women to the music to the beer to the lovely food. Yummy!

Asian, though I prefer Japanese to Chinese. Not ultra familiar with Korean, and what little Thai I've had I've liked.

German food. Love me them sausages and schnitzels. Even have my own version of a German stew. Takes me two days to make it, so it's not a common thing, but my friends love it.

Greek food. Got introduced to it in junior high, and been eating it ever since. Even went way out on a limb a couple weekends ago and combined two of my favorite cuisines by making lamb chili. (It turned out great!)

Cajun food. Jambalaya, étouffée, etc., etc.

Spanish food. Love tapas, love paella. Need to explore this one more, especially in light of my utter love of Spanish red wines.

Need to explore other ethnic foods, since I clearly love food!

My local Thai place has an amazing pineapple fried rice that comes IN A PINEAPPLE!

I am officially both jealous AND drooling!

[Fudgethatkay]

Japanese food, Korean food (Kimchi, Soon Doo Bu, Man doo, and changgukjang (A really smelly soup but soooooo good for you)
Thai, Hmong, Lao, Vietnamese, Szechuan....Italian, and Mexican.
Yeah. I'm easy to please if in Cali. I can find all of the above with ease.

Put me in a midwestern town that doesn't know what Pho or Thai Curry noodles are? I'll cry.

[MoonCat]

Ha, I didn't even mention Polish food because I don't think of it as "ethnic." That's what I grew up eating. There's nothing as good as a batch of homemade pierogi

I love Italian food as well.

[Barracuda]

I can't say I've ever had Hmong. How does it differ from Vietnamese? (Pho, hu tien mi, salad/noodle bowls, nuoc mam, etc.) Jester, if you like Greek, I would highly recommend trying Lebanese food (lamb, shish kebab, tahini hummus, baba ganoush, felafel.)

[Dreamstalker]

There's a restaurant near where I grew up in VA (Peking Gourmet Inn) that made excellent Peking duck. Yes, I was eating Peking duck at age two ....one of these days if we're down that way I should ask mom if we could go back there just to see if it's what I remember.

Other favorites of mine:

Falafel. This is a recent obsession, ironically we live in "falafel central" but the best I've found is in Somerville. Luckily I'm over there regularly for dogwalking.

Indian anything. I can make a decent aloo mutter now There's a tiny shop down the street from us that has any spice you could want.

Japanese, Thai, some Chinese, I'll try almost any Asian food once.

Greek

Jewish food. And we're not Jewish ^_^ (a few of mom's best friends/clients have said she makes the best matzo balls they've ever tasted!)

[mathnerd]

Cuban food. I grew up and still live in Miami. I'm a Gringa, but this area is predominately Cuban. Other Caribbean/Central/South American cultures are also well represented, but I still have a strong affinity for Cuban cuisine. I simply can't live without my Cuban "cocaine" (coffee, Cuban style, sort of like espresso, but stronger and better tasting), and I eat black beans with just about every meal.

[Fudgethatkay]

I can't say I've ever had Hmong. How does it differ from Vietnamese? (Pho, hu tien mi, salad/noodle bowls, nuoc mam, etc.) Jester, if you like Greek, I would highly recommend trying Lebanese food (lamb, shish kebab, tahini hummus, baba ganoush, felafel.)

Hmong is more closer to Lao food, but since all three are similar, its all on regional preference (Black Hmong are in Vietnam, so I imagine that's what they eat whereas Green and White Hmong come from Lao)

There are a few dishes I love but cannot absolutely spell in english. (Yay for having a Hmong roommate!)

[BookstoreEscapee]

I'm a picky eater, I'll admit. My favorite would be Italian (now I want lasagna from my favorite overpriced, cash-only, local restaurant*), though I don't really think of that as "ethnic" since it's pretty mainstream.

Not a fan of Mexican food, but I love chicken fajitas, which is doubly strange because I don't particularly like cooked peppers or onions in any other context.


*but it's 88 degrees and will probably get hotter, and they don't deliver, so I'm thinking I don't want it that badly.

[Jester]

Jester, if you like Greek, I would highly recommend trying Lebanese food (lamb, shish kebab, tahini hummus, baba ganoush, felafel.)

If I ever find myself near a Lebanese restaurant, I will do so. Sadly, there is no such thing here in Key West. That being said, I am very familiar with most of the items on your list, and at least partly familiar with all of them.

Jewish food. And we're not Jewish ^_^ (a few of mom's best friends/clients have said she makes the best matzo balls they've ever tasted!)

You know you're into Jewish food when you find yourself eating gefilte fish. Yummy!

Cuban food.

I know that when I finally move back to Arizona, I will so desperately miss a good Cuban mix sandwich. And eating at El Siboney here on the island. Mmmmm....