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Comment by xp84

1 hour ago

Obligatory https://xkcd.com/2501/

"The average North American probably only knows about Ackee and Saltfish, and Curry Goat!"

"And Oxtail Stew, of course."

"Of course!"

Does one need to know a variety of dishes from each of the 193 UN-recognized states' cuisines to not be uncultured? If not, which ones are OK to be ignorant of? Clearly Jamaica's a must-have, but I'd like the full list so I can remediate the issue at once.

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xp84

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roncesvalles  1 hour ago

>Does one need to know a variety of dishes from each of the 193 UN-recognized states' cuisines to not be uncultured?

No, but you should know the top 5 dishes of the 10-15 most popular cuisines of the world, at least. That's only about 50-75 dishes; many individual restaurants have bigger menus than that.

>Ackee and Saltfish, and Curry Goat! And Oxtail Stew,

Yes... I would expect one to know these. At least that oxtail stew is a popular Jamaican delicacy.

  • _carbyau_  15 minutes ago

    > No, but you should know the top 5 dishes of the 10-15 most popular cuisines of the world, at least. That's only about 50-75 dishes; many individual restaurants have bigger menus than that.

    Man, I so don't care about food. I pay attention to it enough that it doesn't hurt me and gives me the nutrients I need.

    193? Top five? 10-15? 50-75? I could not care less to have a standard regarding knowledge about cuisines.

    I get what food I can from the options I have available to me and use the words on the menu or out of the staff's mouth.

    In this case, I'd be surprised to get a pastry (Is that what this is?) if I thought I was getting a roughly disc-shaped chunk of cooked beef mince meat with flavourings.

    But when ordering I'd also be asking what the beef patty is coming with because it's unusual to just throw a roughly disc-shaped chunk of meat at someone on it's own.

    Edit to add: A beef patty is one thing. A Jamaican patty is another. That's fine.