I’ll bet you one hundred big ones you can’t name one of the 15 countries with the worst food, unhealthiest cuisines in the world.
Okay, maybe I’m not THAT confident that you can’t give an educated guess as to which country has the worst cuisine. Quora users seem to have a lot to say on the matter and, as far as countries with the worst tasting food are concerned, places like the Netherlands, United States, and England seemed to take the cake. But, apparently, not a very tasty one. I guess it really just depends on who it is tasting the cake. Take, for example, the lonely Quora user who voted Italy — considered to be one of the food capitals of the WORLD — as being the country with the worst cuisine. Reddit members have similar opinions on food from the US, and England. Although, you would think folks were voting on which country has the worst diet, because there seem to be a bit of a dispute about all American food not only being gross but unhealthy, as well. One member states, “America.. fat and cheese for everyone!!”. Clearly, these haters have not bitten into enough American cuisine, because — spoiler alert! — it’s on our list of countries with the best food in the world. And while we have countries with best cuisine in mind, although many opinionated Quora and Reddit users alike seem to agree that Europe, overall, seems to have a lot of bland and tasteless food, there are definitely many countries within it that have some really good eats! 10 Best Food Countries in Europe will surely give you a little taste of what some European countries bring to the table. That’s all this is, anyway right? A matter of taste.
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If you were to think of what the worst food in the world to eat is, what would you picture? Judging by the different opinions on Quora and Reddit alone, the answer to this question varies depending on who it is being asked to. But take, for instance, how my all-time favorite food enthusiast (and renowned chef, and writer AND TV personality!) Anthony Bourdain, described the Icelandic dish “Hakarl” as “the single worst thing I have ever put in my mouth.” Makes sense to me considering it is essentially a fermented shark that reeks of cat piss! Yet Andrew Zimmern said that it had a sweet and nutty flavor and was only slightly fishy tasting in comparison to its horrific smell before he asked for another bite!
However, they shared more similar views on the infamous Scottish dish, “Haggis,” which is generally known as one of the most disgusting foods in the world. It’s no wonder why, as it consists of the heart, liver, and lungs of a sheep mixed with some oats, pepper, and some other spices all mixed up inside of the lining of the sheep’s stomach! I watched Bourdain take a bite on an episode of “A Cook’s Tour” (it was featured again on an episode of “Parts Unknown,” by the way) and surprisingly enough, he liked it! “Boy, that’s good! I like this!” he said, then went on to describe it as a “hardier,” “oatier” sheppard’s pie type of thing. Of course, Haggis was also featured on “Bizarre Foods” where Andrew Zimmern commented on the delightful smell during preparation, although I smelled a hint of sarcasm throughout the scene. He obviously wasn’t joking around when he said it was “awesome” because he made it clear this wasn’t his first rodeo with Haggis. It’s funny, both Zimmern and Bourdain seemed to point out how execrated the particular dish was to the rest of the world. Andrew stating that “only dying has a worse reputation than haggis,” and Bourdain went on to point out after stating that he liked the dish, “keep in mind, this is a punchline to jokes in the states as a thing you definitely don’t want to eat. It sounds terrifying. You know what? It’s good! It’s really good!” Said something about folks missing out, but I dunno… Oats and sheep organs? I think I’ll take my chances and pass on that one!
Since I want to provide a more informative list rather than just to make an assumption based on opinions found on forums alone, and there are too many cultural cuisine-based TV shows to even incorporate them into my ranking, I dug a little deeper into the “unhealthiest cuisines in the world” portion of the list. To find out which country has the worst diet was no easy task! The internet is full of opinions on this matter; so much so that it can be hard to sift through all the different points of view and find cold, hard facts. Generally speaking, the United States is considered to be the unhealthiest country. However, you may have noticed it on our list of 25 Countries with the Best Food Safety in the World which takes the country’s nutrition into consideration.
With all the information the world wide web has to offer, I thought to look at it from a different angle. I don’t want opinions. I want facts! I thought maybe if I started looking into health issues that go hand-in-hand with food. Obesity and diabetes were the two that are most common with a poor diet. I listed the top countries with the highest levels of both obesity and diabetes rates, then found the countries that ranked highest in both to come up with 15 countries with the worst food, unhealthiest cuisines in the world.
It wasn’t until I started looking into what these countries actually eat that I started to scratch my head a bit. Didn’t find a whole lot of junk in their traditional dishes. So, why are these countries so unhealthy? Two words. Fast food! These types of restaurants weren’t always available to them. Fish and coconuts were. I dunno about you, but I would want to venture away from the same basic ingredients found in almost every dish. Not to mention the simple fact that much like everywhere else, fast food is so much more convenient and less costly. Let’s face it, would YOU be eating healthier if you could afford to? Some of these people cannot, and unfortunately suffer for it. But when they’re not filling up on junk, these countries have a lot of good eats to offer! I can’t imagine why they are not all found in 11 Countries with Best Food/Diet in the World for Retirees and Expats! Well… I guess if one is, they all pretty much are, as their cuisines don’t differ too much from one another. So, let’s see our list of countries with the worst food, unhealthiest cuisines in the world, shall we?
