I’ve been living in Europe for a several years and often see that Latin American or Asian foods get lumped together regardless of country of origin, partly because there are a lot of common ingredients.
So if you guys had to fill a menu item or a supermarket section with a 5 dishes or certain 5 ingredients that are essentially European what would they be?
The dishes don’t have to be real as such, but have to be distinctly European.
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Bread. Dishes vary all over Europe, what unites Europeans is bread. Like rice in Asia, bread is the foundation of European food culture, since historically, it often was all that people had to feed them self. Many traditional dishes were based on bread, trying to make it taste more interesting or reusing stale bread.
Of course, there are other common things. Sausages are another example, because people in Europe needed to preserve food in the winter. Cheese too.
Also, honey is a typically European ingredient to flavor sweet dishes.
Scotch lamb shoulder, cannellini beans and morcilla, stewed in Guinness and Madiera, served with Knedlíky and gremolata: European stew. To drink: aquavit, retsina or Hefeweizen.
Potatoes, carrots, onions in a stew. Sometimes with meat, sometimes not. Lots of variations but the same base
I don’t know about food. There are so many options. Even within countries you can find so many dishes. But for drinks beer and wine should be on the table.
Pizza, kebab and a beer, the most universal european foods.
Bread, potatoes, cheese, sausages, milk, pasta, some kind of stew/casserole with meat, tomato and other vegetables.
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This is such a weird question.
To be quite honest, I don’t think there is a dish that is distinctly and uniquely European only.
Firstly, the whole naming of things Pan-Asian (or Pan-Latin American, etc), as something genetically Asian is a occurrence that kind of infantilizes people from that region. Used for marketing to make something seem plausibly exotic without saying “modified for regional tastes”. While I get it’s intent is to capture a flavor profile that is prevalent in a broader region (no one will argue Indonesian and Korean have more in common than Korean and Norwegian), the way it is used — marketing food to be some sort of “exotic” — can be viewed as mildly ignorant. The terminology is Eurocentric, because it implies a western point of view. “Pan Asian” food doesn’t exist in Asia, even when culinary concepts cross borders. And while the term doesn’t offend me, per se, upon an analysis of it here, I do think it is lazy and perhaps even ignorant. Pan European Food doesn’t exist, because people have been taught to make distinctions in the world for the west.
Secondly, and perhaps more relevant to your question, I think it’s hard to nail something down as uniquely European, seeing how colonization made it such that a lot of things that may have been uniquely European no longer were. Bread and cheese are no longer uniquely European. And while I agree that it’s the closest there there is, I think discrediting the culture around bread, cheese, or wine in other parts the world also exempts it.
Thirdly, it’s funny how people are naming potatoes and tomatoes here when they weren’t even in widespread use until the 17th century.
Wine. It’s just wine. Half the countries produce really good wine, the other half appreciates it. At least wine is something we can all agree on.
American fast food.
> but have to be distinctly European.
Oh nevermind.
I think most European countries have some form of stew right?
Cheese, especially since most of the world outside Europe is lactose intolerant.
Other people mentioned bread and sausages..
A fancy hotdog, made with a local sausage, “artisanal” bread and a honey mustard sauce perhaps?
Various cheeses and nuts as appetizer or snacks, also seasonal berries and fruit in general.
One pot soups, with seasonal vegetables, with the stock made from beef or chicken bones, etc. Could be mushroom soup for vegans maybe.
All kinds of goulash too. And I know it is traditionally italian, but for me pasta dishes and pizzas are non-negotiables. Meat balls in tomato sauce, or the swedish version you get in Ikea. I don’t know much about seafood, also lots of countries are fairly continental.
For dessert, there could be many options, from creamy cakes like tiramisu, various pastries like strudel, a cup of kompot, or just ice cream.
Pasta, milk and tomato based sauces, bread, cheese. European food is relatively mildly flavored compared to the rest of the world.
Anything with barley.
It was one of the first cultivated grains in Europe and has been consumed for several thousands of years. It is also what kept peasants fed.
I think most countries have at least few dishes (soups, stews, porridge, bread, etc) that contain barley.
Besides bread, nothing, really. Instead, there are just common combinations, like meat + potatoes, or uber ubiquitous dishes like pizza, sandwich, or tea, but they are originally of quite specific origin and also have spread outside of Europe.
Bread and cheese?
Of course, everyone a different kind of bread and a different kind of cheese.
Yeah, potatoes, breads and cheeses could cover a lot of it.
The North-South divide in food is pretty strong (mainly due to different ingredients because of very different climate) and there is also some West-East divide. But these three items are pretty universal. To make it really mixed, one could add some sour cream as cold sauce from the North-East and some grilled sardines from the South-West. Then it adds up to a decent dish.
ecalope with potatoes and a sauce from diced, mixed vegetables. A coffee afterwards.
Sausages – every country has their own version. Dried meats, cheese, stews. Pickles /preserved foods – veg, fish
How about a breaded cutlet? Italian, French and German cultures all have some form if it. Maybe others too?
Chips are pretty common and popular in most European countries. Chips and Beer?
I would distinguish things into two general styles. Mediterranean food and Northern food. One is centered around taste and the experience during the meal, the other one is centered around preservation techniques for the winter like smoking, salting, brewing and fermentation. One is vivid the other is cosy.
So I would create two dishes. On light mediterranean dish with whine and light bread and some heftier dish with a brown sauce, beer and dark bread.
Bread, cheese and sausages are something you usually always find a local variety. There are other regional foods, but I think these three are quite common in most European countries.
The kitchen of the Hungarian – Austrian empire is maybe the closest to the description that actually existed. Middle European, with Balkan, Germany and Easter Europe covered with some Mediterranean influences and some fancy upper-class French influences… maybe.
Fun question!
Cheese – the “white people food” – after all we are the most lactose digestion capable continent.
Other than that its bread, nit flatbread, not the US sugarcak, but honest to god decent bread.
Outside that there is a HUGE difference between south/mediterranean and places that have a winter (with snow). Between those two the only thing common is potato and sausages.
Northern latitudes flavor relies a fuckton on flacors gained by preservation techniques, be it smoked meat, sauerkraut …etc. Imho. southern european cousine needs less introduction.
Everything wheat based, pork meat, cabbages, potatoes
Maybe lasagne? Either that or spag bol is pretty much a guaranteed find across the continent.
(except Italy for the latter, but you can’t please everyone.)
Minced beef is a pretty universal ingredient, often paired with diced onions, amongst other ingredients, shaped into a form and fried/baked. You’ve got köfte, köttbullar, frikadelle, bouletten, ćevapi, albóndigas, etc. etc.
A beer washed down by a glass of wine, some kind of sausages, a selection of cheeses and a big elaborate cake. That pretty much covers the entire continent and islands.
Potatoes in the North, tomatoes in the South. Both are originally from South America but they were quickly adopted here. Just like corn (maize), cacao, tobacco (not a food). Porc would be an early European food, just like onions and cabbages.
Scouse/skovs, (and all it’s different spelling variations) skipper lap/lob scouse & lobby. Certainly for Scandinavia & UK (and Baltics possibly??).
A filled dumpling.
Ravioli, maultaschen, perogi, etc. i think pretty much every european country has a similar dish that’s just a boiled wheat dumpling filled with meat, cheese, and/or vegetables.