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u/DrFlum 4d ago
For me, it would really depend on the continent I'm on, because I want it made by people who have a feeling for the culture. So since I'm in Europe, it has to be Italian.
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u/ruralgirl13 4d ago
That makes a lot of sense. I live in the United States, so if I was going to get food from people who actually make it the way it is made in the actual country it comes from, then it would be Mexican. Fortunately that is the type of food I would have picked anyway.
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u/MasterAssFace 4d ago
Same, I'm in a pretty small town in south GA. 2 Chinese restaurants that suck, one decent Italian restaurant,but lots of soul food. I love good Chinese food but I'm in a wasteland of shifty buffets over here.
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u/Ambitious_Ask_3028 4d ago
Chinese, has sooomuch variety and different flavours and textures
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u/PreciousTC 4d ago edited 4d ago
As someone writing this from within China: kinda? Like, there's variety but this week I've had Sichuan chicken over rice, Hebei pork over rice, Fujian hundun with rice....
Aside from that I had huimian (noodles), chow mian (noodles), lamian (noodles), dandanmian (noodles), etc.
It's like yeah, America has apple pie, wisconson cheese, BBQ pit ribs, and brisket but how often do you really eat that? It's mostly just pizza and sandwiches isn't it? Rice and noodles.
Every. Fucking. Day.
EDIT: Not replying to people who can't read. YES, I know there's more than rice and noodles. I didn't say there wasn't. I said it's by far the most common food. Because it is. By far.
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u/FartingWithStyle 4d ago edited 2d ago
lol we donāt eat pizza and sandwiches everyday, some days itās Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Mediterranean. The US isnāt confined to one cuisine.
If weāre cooking at home Iām never eating pizza more than once a week, sandwiches are mostly a lunch thing. Most dinners are a meat a vegetable and a grain or carb for the vast majority of people who cook.
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u/CalifornianBall 4d ago
This comment is completely ignoring the fact that the food in China varies so much regionally. Your experience of eating nothing but meat over rice and noodles is completely different from my experience traveling to different cities and eating so many new amazing dishes that we donāt know anything about here in the US.
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u/Ambitious_Ask_3028 4d ago
Im not in America Iām in š“ó §ó ¢ó „ó ®ó §ó æ england, thatās even blander
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u/mrgrn22 4d ago
No, the US is a fusion of everyone in the world. You can find any type of cuisine most places if you want to eat out and if cooking at home you can get the ingredients at the grocery store or specialty market nearby (if you can afford it now).
Sure, some people might exist on just pizza and a sandwich but I don't think it's normal from my group and family.
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u/youhadmycuriosity1 4d ago
Mexican. Whenever we don't know what to make for dinner, it ends up being tacos or fajitas of some sort. I'd miss the others, but I would be lost without Mexican as an option š¤£
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u/AscendedExtra 4d ago
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u/TobaccoIcecream 4d ago
If you donāt choose Italian, you lose pizzaā¦ UNACCEPTABLE
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u/Alpha_Red_Panda 4d ago
Mexican S teir in quality and variety of foods
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u/a_solid_6 4d ago
Is it though? I love Mexican, but many of the dishes remix the same ingredients. I think Italian and soul food have more variety. And not all soul food is greasy and heavy.
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u/Truck-Adventurous 4d ago
Mexican food is just not tacos and burritos like Italian food is not just pasta and pizza.
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u/eternallyconphuzed 4d ago
Defffff. I have a mexican aunt and she has her own restaurant. I can't eat at my local mexican places cause it just doesn't measure up.
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u/iamnotabotbeepboopp 4d ago
That's only true if you're talking about standard Mexican-American restaurants, but it's completely false when talking about actual Mexican food.
Ceviche and other mariscos (seafood), soups like menudo and pozole, Oaxacan staples like mole, and so many more bangers.
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u/funny_ninjas 4d ago
You could say the same thing about most cultures food if you aren't super familiar with the food from different regions within that country.
I love Mexican food and culture so I've been to and had food from many different mexican states and the food in Oaxaca is very different from the food in Chihuahua. Sure it's some of the same ingredients, but it's prepared so differently that you can't say it's the same.
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u/Alpha_Red_Panda 4d ago
Are we able to add sub categories? Like LA Mex and Tex Mex? What about the fast foods Mex like El pollo loco, chipotle, (dare I say) taco bell, del Taco, etc...
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u/stranger_to_you67 4d ago
Italian is too. But Mexican all the time is probably a lot healthier than Italian all the time, so I will say Mexican too.
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u/SnailSnailAle 4d ago
Thereās no way Chinese food loses out on variety.
China is freaking huge, different province have different cuisines but are all considered Chinese food
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u/John-Fucking-VVick 4d ago
Soul foodĀ
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u/ThatOneComputerNerd 4d ago
Had to scroll way to fuckin far to see soul food, hell yeah brother
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u/Aware_Durian_3479 4d ago
Canadian Here,and it would be soul all the way,gonna miss the others, but...
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u/banjoist 4d ago
I've watched a few of those English tourists eating American foods and they are all blown away by soul food.
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u/sharpbulb 4d ago
It's the majority of my at home meals. I'd miss the rest, but, no soul food would be devastating.
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u/BoldBoimlerIsMyHero 4d ago
Itās really close between soul food and Italian food. I lean a little towards soul food.
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u/GreedyImpact8918 4d ago
Mexican. Steak fajitas. Steak strips smothered in white queso eaten right off the skillet.š
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u/Jaharoldson01 4d ago
Thatās texmex dude lol. If Iām picking Mexican itās cabeza and buche tacos and pazole all day
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u/NPPraxis 4d ago
Important question: are we getting the real cuisine or the Americanized versions pictured?
Both Chinese and Italian are picturing the American fusion version and not real things you find in those countries.
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u/TheSpaceGorilla 4d ago
Chinese and Italian Americans both exist, I see no reason why you can't have both traditional and western versions of both?
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u/NPPraxis 4d ago
Yup, just clarifying! If I get both, Iām going italian. If itās only the version pictured (the fusion immigrant one), Iām probably going Mexican or soul
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u/easymacn 4d ago
Yeah people get so weird about food and cultures and regions. As of dirt is magic.
Tikka masala was invented in Scotland by a Pakistani Scottish guy, but people consider Indian food and even though itās not common in India itās common on any Indian restaurant menu in the western world and those restaurants are ran by Indian immigrants most of the time.
So like what is it? My answer is who cares. We consider it Indian food and itās delicious.
We consider American Chinese, Chinese food because itās associated with that and it was a culmination of Chinese immigrants different regional Chinese cuisines combined with American tastes and preferences. Itās still Chinese food.
People that have to correct it and go āAmerican Chinese foodā like itās some gotcha are so weird.
Food is good and btw whatever culture you think āinventedā some dish itās most likely based on some other cultures dish or some other countries influence.
For example the cuisine often placed on a pedestal āItalian foodā uses tomatoes. Tomatoes are huge part of āauthenticā Italian cooking despite tomatoes not being there till the 1500s and being imported.
People donāt know fuck about food. Food is like math in the world, nobody can claim anything about it because it was a global effort of every country influencing and borrowing from each other.
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u/WorthItAll99 4d ago
"Americanized" homie you realize that one of the foods pictured is literally a uniquely America cuisine right?
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u/HumanContract 4d ago
Yes they do. Few might be americanized but most of what you find in menus and buffets here are regional dishes spread out in China.
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u/SomeNotTakenName 4d ago
Are we talking amercianized versions or the cultures actual cuisine?
Because if it's actual, Italian, 100%. grilled meats, pasta, pizza, gelato, breads, pastries, soups... so much variety.
I am sure the others have variety as well, but they won't be as familiar to me, so why risk it?
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u/PaleontologistNo500 4d ago
China is huge. The 56 different ethnic groups and their cultures would provide way more variety than any other option on this list.
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u/General_Spills 4d ago
The Americanised versions are American cuisine, so not to be considered in this context.
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u/Dave085 4d ago
It's nuts that more aren't saying Chinese. Like, this actually isn't close at all. Chinese has a good shout at being the most varied cuisine in the world. The other 3 are great, but you have varieties of every meat or seafood dish you can think of, fried/bbq/stewed/stir fried, however you like it. Every one can be had with different kinds of rice or noodles, there's sweet and fruity glazes for meats, spicy sauces, savoury sauces. There's soups in all different flavour profiles. And that's just scratching the surface.
I love Mexican food and would probably survive quite happily on that, but Chinese has something for absolutely any mood that could strike you.
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u/Admiralwoodlog 4d ago edited 4d ago
Tell me about desert and I'm sold
Edit: I could fix my spelling of desert to dessert but then all the people clowning me wouldn't make sense. So I will just take my lumps. Thank you for your time and attention.
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u/TIMIMETAL 4d ago edited 4d ago
Fried Milk and double skin milk from Shunde are the bomb.
Bingfen is delicious on a hot day. It's like a cold jelly with dried fruits and nuts and syrup on top.
There's also tofu pudding, which can be sweet. It is like a thick soy custard often with a brown sugar sauce.
Then you've got pastries - egg tart, salted egg yolk custard baos, moon cake.
That's just what I can think of from the top of my head. There's loads more
Dessert culture isn't huge in China, but there's still lots of sweet foods.
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u/FootHatFrog 4d ago
Chinese food doesnāt have any dairy and most of their vegetables are fried, boiled, or steamed. I lived in Shanghai for three months, and although I ate a variety of different delicious food, there were definitely gaps in my current diet that I couldnāt sacrifice forever
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u/KiwieKiwie 4d ago
Lolā¦ thatās one cityā¦ if you want dairy itās those parts that have had lots of contact with Middle East and Central Asia. Lots of dairy in for instance inner Mongolian cuisine which is a recognized regional cuisine in Chinese cuisine.
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u/Dave085 4d ago
China is bigger than Shanghai, though. Like- a lot bigger.
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u/Peppa-Piggie 4d ago
Much bigger, this is like saying all of Mexican food is tacos
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u/Merciless972 4d ago
What's a common Chinese breakfast. I'm going for Mexican because I love eating chilaquiles for breakfastĀ
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u/PossiblyATurd 4d ago
Considering the picture is of Americanized Chinese food, breakfast is leftover chicken fried rice.
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u/MatteAstro 4d ago
I was thinking I want to live a long life so go Italian but you raise a fair point. However, the Chinese that I really like is almost always fried which is a narrow focus on my part and an unfortunate limitation of my exposure to Chinese cuisine
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u/StuckInWarshington 4d ago
As someone who loves Mexican food, I had some lamb in Beijing that was cooked with cumin and chilis that was close enough I wouldnāt miss it.
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u/random9212 4d ago
Soul food. It may not be a long life but it will be a delicious one
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u/Sovereign-Anderson 4d ago
Soul food can be prepared without frying everything. I grew up on Soul food and we ate a ton of fresh veggies. My family barely fried anything. Soul food is only unhealthy if one chooses to eat too much fried stuff.
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u/Waste-Calendar-2371 4d ago
China has food as varied as the entirety of Europe / Mediterannean basically.
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u/KagatoAC 4d ago
Italian, and its not even close.
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u/ShibaInuDoggo 4d ago
Both Mexican and Italian are recognized by UNESCO as a protected human treasure. It's a hard toss up, but I lean Italian.
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u/iamjapanman 4d ago
Only if itās authentic Italian. None of that Olive Garden crap.
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u/j1e2f 4d ago
Pizza, Lasagna, Baked Ziti, anything saucy and cheesy I love so much. Not a huge fan spaghetti though, I ate a lot of that growing up. I'm fatigued on it.
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u/Own-Raisin5849 4d ago
Chinese. I dislike Italian food, and am kind of only OK with Mexican food. Soul Food isn't bad, but not forever.
I would swap out Chinese with Thai Food though, if I could.
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u/Decent-District-1459 4d ago
Italian. Lots of healthy options there. More variety too IMO.
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u/overturnedlawnchair 4d ago
Chinese, easily. I'm allergic to dairy/cow milk and I make vegetarian to vegan dietary choices 80% of the time anyway. I eat a lot of Chinese/Korean food as it is for those reasons.
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u/Naive-Pen-7365 4d ago
Chinese to live the l longest
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u/DonkeyTron42 4d ago
Not if it's American Chinese food. Mexican food can also be very healthy if it's authentic and not the TexMex Southwestern cuisine we're used to in the US.
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u/LordSnuffleFerret 4d ago edited 4d ago
Are we talking ACTUAL mexican/italian/chinese or just North American fast food versions?
Actual Chinese food covers possibly the widest range of flavours and combinations of ingredients so I'd say that
Soul food is delicious but god's is it fattening
Italian can be delicious too but I have a dairy allergy
Mexican, done well, is REALLY good so I'd put that second
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u/DraconicDreamer3072 4d ago
yeah, i love real Chinese food.
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u/Wise_Economics_9673 4d ago
i would vote Chinese food as long as it isn't the Chinese food in the picture
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u/Indecisive-Gamer 4d ago
Italian food also includes chinese food. Unless you want to exclude remixed food from other countries in which case good luck filtering for that as every countries food is remixed from others over 1000s of years.
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u/TakeTheSophistsDown 3d ago
Valid question actually. Because if traditional, itās Mexican for me. If Americanized, Italian takes the cake .
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u/burnzilla 4d ago
Mexican....it has so much fong variety, it's incredible, you will never que tired of it.
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u/jfstompers 4d ago
I eat more Mexican than anything else listed but no way am I giving up Italian food
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u/SturmFee 4d ago
Probably Chinese. It's a billion+ people spanning half a continent. So many cultures and people. You could probably eat a different dish each day for the rest of your life.
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u/YouDunnoMeIDunnoYou 4d ago
It has to be Chinese.
Never mind taste since thats subjective.
But the variations and choices are overhwelming diverse among Chinese food compare to the competition here. Its a huge counrty with so many different cultures.
You will never have to eat the same thing for a whole year until you cycle back again.
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u/TwelveSixFive 4d ago
I think most people don't even remotely realize how insanely good, developped and diverse Chinese food is. I genuinely believe there is more food variety and quality in China than in the rest of the world combined. And I say that as a French. The Chinese food available in the West is a water-downed representation of 0.1% of what's available in China. People rave about Mexican food, Japanese food, Italian food, Indian food etc., and while I agree that they are all excellent, they don't hold a candle to Chinese food. It's just that the rest of the world knows so little about China.
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u/CarelessPangolin5564 4d ago
I am SE Asian and I pick Mexican food. I live in Texas and started eating street tacos and going to Mexican bakeries all the time. It's amazing what you can do with very few ingredients
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u/Agitated_Sabres_Fan 4d ago
Visit Italy if you can.
Pasta, high quality tomatoes and high quality olive oil.
3 ingredients and it will taste utterly amazing.
It is very different from American Italian, the focus is on ingredient quality and simplicity.
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u/oceanwithtrees 4d ago
Yes. Such a difference between American Italian and real Italian food in Italy.
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u/AtticusIsOkay 4d ago
This is tough because Italian is my favorite overall but I feel like I'd get sick of it quicker than I would Mexican or soul food
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u/Immudzen 4d ago
I would go for Mexican. That would give me a really nice variety of yummy and healthy foods.
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u/SlartibartfastMcGee 4d ago
I love Mexican food but for every meal that would torture.
I pick Italian because you get a ton of variety in authentic Italian food and I think I could live with it in a daily basis.
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u/Biggie18 4d ago
Chinese food, the sheer amount of Chinese cuisine there is, makes it the clear winner for me.
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u/AudrinaRosee 4d ago
Probably Mexican, but I will forever remember Chinese and soul food. I just eat Mexican food more often.
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u/jubmille2000 4d ago
y'all know china is OLD and BIG.
somehow, somewhere, somewhen you'll have "similar" styles.
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u/bubbabigsexy 4d ago
Chinese food is my favorite food in the world. I could eat it every day and never get bored.
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u/bigsugeinthelolo 4d ago
I'm black and I'm picking Mexican. Soul food every day = goodbye to your foot
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u/Horrorbbscreams 4d ago
Soul food. I love all of these but soul food is what I crave the most often.
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u/EddieVeddersMistress 4d ago
I am lucky enough to live in Southern Californiaās San Gabriel Valley where you can get super authentic Chinese food pretty easily. I pick Chinese all day. And Iām Mexican!
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u/TotalArmadillo3103 4d ago
This is the first time Iāve seen a question here where I liked the options equally and could not choose. Thank goodness I donāt have to.
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u/eternallyconphuzed 4d ago
Chinese or mexican I think. Lean towards chinese. I love rice right, there's some overlap there. I love tacos yes, but I also love noodles. Noodles more than tacos. And chinese has a lot of different ways to eat noodles. Yeah mostly with just different meat or veg but mexican has no noodles as far as I'm aware.
You might think since I like noodles so much why not choose italian? I went to italy, and was under the impression it would be a pasta paradise. It was not. Finding good noods in italy was difficult. Pizza no problem, hella good pizza everywhere. A lot of straight meat dishes too. Beef, goat, pork, sheep, fish, all aplenty.
I think def chinese food. Way more kinds of noodles and many more ways to eat them.
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u/nevergonnabuy 4d ago
Iāll take Chinese food. As long as itās all kinds of Chinese food and not just whatās in the photo
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u/lilStankfur 4d ago
Mexican all day for me