Survival. It’s more than just continuing to live, I think. In our lives, it is our main adventure.
Human beings have certain basic needs. We must have food, water, air, shelter, and sleep, to survive. If any one of these basic needs is not met, well, then we humans cannot survive. Our bare minimums.
Most of them are fairly standard issue. Air. Unless it is horrible air, we pretty much don’t notice the stuff we are breathing in and out.
Same with water. It mostly goes down the same unless the water is in bad shape.
Sleep. Sure. There are different levels of sleep. But face it. Once we nod off, we lose awareness of the space we are in.
But then there is shelter, and there is food.
Shelter. Many of us work hard all our lives to buy nice shelters. And often times we spend a lot of money buying fabulous things to put in our shelters to make them even nicer. We keep our shelters for a long time. We’ve come a long way since the days of the cave.
And finally, there is food.
Food. Food, glorious food.
I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t like to eat.
As mentioned. We need food to live. To survive. But besides that, food is delightful. Incredible. Delicious.
Of course, it’s all subjective according to personal tastes. I have a thing for cheeseburgers, and eggs. My friend Miss Somebody might like chocolate bars dipped in peanut butter. But the bottom line is. Some food is better than others.
Recently, CNN Travel Section did its take on some of the best food cultures and destinations around the world. And they rated them by place.
Here are the top ten, from the bottom up.
United States – #10
Mexico – #9
Thailand – #8
Greece – #7
India – #6
Japan – #5
Spain – #4
France – #3
China – #2
Italy – #1
They gave each country a “Yum” and a “Dumb” rating on particular foods.
I have listed them verbatim for each country.
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United States
Yum
Cheeseburger: a perfect example of making good things greater.
Chocolate chip cookie: The world would be a little less habitable without this Americana classic, invented as recently as the 1930s.
Dumb
All overly processed foods such as Twinkies, Hostess cakes and KFC.
Mexico
Yum
Mole: ancient sauce made of chili peppers, spices, chocolate and magic incantations.
Tacos al pastor: the spit-roast pork taco, a blend of the pre- and post-Colombian.
Tamales: an ancient Mayan food of masa cooked in a leaf wrapping.
Dumb
Tostadas: basically the same as a taco or burrito, but served in a crispy fried tortilla that breaks into pieces as soon as you bite into it. Impossible to eat.
Thailand
Yum
Tom yam kung: a rave party for the mouth. The floral notes of lemongrass, the earthy galangal, freshness of kaffir lime leaves and the heat of the chilies.
Massaman curry: a Thai curry with Islamic roots.
Som tam: The popular green papaya salad is sour, extra spicy, sweet and salty. It’s the best of Thai tastes.
Dumb
Pla som: This fermented fish eaten uncooked is popular in parts of northeastern Thailand and reported to be responsible for bile duct cancer.
Greece
Yum
Olive oil: Drizzled on other food or soaked up by bread, it’s almost as varied as wine in its flavors.
Spanakopita: makes spinach palatable with its feta cheese mixture and flaky pastry cover.
Gyros: Late-night drunk eating wouldn’t be the same without the pita bread sandwich of roast meat and tzatziki.
Dumb
Lachanorizo: basically cabbage and onion cooked to death then mixed with rice. Filling but one-dimensional.
India
Yum
Dal: India has managed to make boiled lentils exciting.
Dosa: a pancake filled with anything from cheese to spicy vegetables, perfect for lunch or dinner.
Chai: Not everyone likes coffee and not everyone likes plain tea, but it’s hard to resist chai.
Dumb
Balti chicken: An invention for the British palate, it should probably have died out with colonialism.
Japan
Yum
Miso soup: showcases some of the fundamental flavors of Japanese food, simple and wholesome.
Sushi and sashimi: Who knew that raw fish on rice could become so popular?
Tempura: the perfection of deep-frying. Never greasy, the batter is thin and light like a crisp tissue.
Dumb
Fugu: Is anything really that delicious that it’s worth risking your life to eat? The poisonous blowfish is potentially lethal.
Welcome to Wakayama, one of Japan’s most underrated destinations for foodies
Spain
Yum
Jamon Iberico: a whole cured ham hock usually carved by clamping it down in a wooden stand like some medieval ritual.
Churros: the world’s best version of sweet fried dough.
Dumb
Gazpacho: It’s refreshing and all, but it’s basically liquid salad.
France
Yum
Escargot: Credit the French for turning slimy, garden-dwelling pests into a delicacy. Massive respect for making them taste amazing, too.
Macarons: Like unicorn food. In fact anything from a patisserie in France seems to have been conjured out of sugar, fairy dust and the dinner wishes of little girls.
Baguette: the first and last thing that you’ll want to eat in France. The first bite is transformational; the last will be full of longing.
Dumb
Foie gras: It tastes like 10,000 ducks roasted in butter then reduced to a velvet pudding, but some animal advocates decry the cruelty of force-feeding fowl to fatten their livers.
China
Yum
Sweet and sour pork: a guilty pleasure that has taken on different forms.
Dim sum: a grand tradition from Hong Kong to New York.
Roast suckling pig and Peking duck: wonders of different styles of ovens adopted by Chinese chefs.
Xiaolongbao: incredible soup-filled surprises. How do they get that dumpling skin to hold all that hot broth?
Dumb
Shark’s fin soup: Green campaigners have been pushing for Chinese restaurants and markets to stop serving the dish in recent years.
Italy
Yum
Ragu alla bolognese (spaghetti bolognaise): the world’s go-to “can’t decide what to have” food.
Pizza: mind-bogglingly simple yet satisfying dish. Staple diet of bachelors and college students.
Italian-style salami: second only to cigarettes as a source of addiction.
Coffee: Cappuccino is for breakfast? Forget it. We want it all day and all night.
Dumb
Buffalo mozzarella: those balls of spongy, off-white, subtly flavored cheeses of water buffalo milk. The flavor’s so subtle you have to imagine it.
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So, there you have it. One yummy level of survival from all around the world. From roast suckling pigs to green papaya. There is something for everyone in the way of cuisines. What a wonderful gift, this thing we know as food.
I love to eat and try new tastes. But there is a lot to be said for survival when a good old cheeseburger is involved.
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“Laughter is brightest in the place where food is.”
– Irish Proverb
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“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”
– Luciano Pavarotti
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“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.”
– James Beard
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What’s your flavor. Mine is yummers.
