Which foods are associated with which languages and which countries? You must say about your own country and others also. Then the natives of this countries can say if it is accurate or not. Belgium is a famous for beer, chocolate and fries, also mussels. I've eaten some foreign chocolate and it was terrible, therefore I understand why the Belgian chocolate is famous. Belgium has three languages (French, Dutch and German) and I suppose much influence by France and the Netherlands. I associate curry with India, and naan bread and rice. I think that the mild Indian food is great. I associate chorizo with Spain, and red wine. I think that Germans love sausages and beer haha. The Dutch eat food without taste and the French eat creamy sauce. The English like tea time with a pot of tea and cake. They like fish and chips as well. This is my experience and images.
Haggis is often erroneously associated with Gaelic, seeing as it's a Scottish dish. But Gaels didn't traditionally eat it -- it was eaten by the Anglo-Saxon Scots-speaking Lowlanders. Heck, it's made of bits of sheep, and the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders were mostly cattle herders and fishermen. Sheep only became very common in the Highlands with the clearances....
I think it is more often that food is associated with ethnicity, and then ethnicity with a country. With countries that have close to a mono-culture as in one prevailing language, they become the same thing. Of course outside influences often become part of the main culture, as with curry in the UK, or Tex-Mex in the US. Also, I suspect that the result of conjuring up the foods associated with various countries will produce the lowest common denominators, rather than fine cuisine. My list: US (my country): burgers and hot dogs and fries with ketchup and watery Pilsners UK: fish and chips with vinegar and ales; scones and tea; bland boiled food in general Germany: sausages and sauerkraut and good beer France: overly fussy food like escargot with wine Poland: pierogis and kielbasa Russia: borscht and vodka Hungary: goulash Italy: pasta and wine Europe: fries/chips with the abomination of mayonnaise for a condiment China: stir-fried whatever with garlic and ginger and tea Korea: kimchee Japan: sushi and teriyaki and sake Maghreb: lamb and couscous Levant: lamb and falafel India: tandoor chicken and curries Australia: roo tail and beer Mexico: tacos and burritos, salsa and tequila (despite a lot of what is thought of being mainly street food there) Canada: who knows what they eat up there Scandinavia: lox
Michael Jackson suggested the USA should be known for great beer, in spite of the fact that watery Pilsners are still widely available for them that like them.
If you don't like my topic then you have not to reply. I didn't write nasty stereotypes but my experience and what people have said, also I watch the TV of those countries which I've discussed or I've visited the countries and seen it (Holland, England, France, Germany). I don't know about Canadian food at all, I hadn't heard of poutine. this is interesting, I'd didn't know and I think that many people associate haggis with Scotland and don't know the background
Cheese curd. Ah, beautiful squeaky cheese curd. And the gravy has to be hot enough to melt the outside of the cheese, but not so hot that the middle isn't still solid. I made the mistake once of ordering a poutine in Southern Ontario 15 years ago. The girl stared blankly at me, so I asked again. Then she said "Ah, you want a poo-teen!". And then she gave me soggy fries and shredded mozzarella smothered in BBQ flavoured sauce. I wept. (FYI, it's pronounced poo-tin, both syllables short and with equal emphasis. And the Canadian French "t" sounds a bit like "ts".) Some more traditional French Canadian foods, courtesy of my now-103-year-old grandmother: tourtiere (meat pie), pattes de cochon (pork hocks), tarte au sucre (sugar pie), sucre a la creme (brown sugar fudge), soupe au pois (pea soup made with a hambone). Come to any of my family Christmas parties, and you're pretty much guaranteed to find some tourtiere and some sucre a la creme. But come on any other day, and you're more likely to find me cooking thai green curry, butternut squash soup or pan-fried trout. While each region of Canada does have its traditional dishes, most Canadians just eat…well…food. And for the record, I have eaten moose on more than one occasion. One of the many joys of living out East and having friends from Newfoundland! A few other famous - and delicious - Newfoundland dishes that we've had at friends' houses: Jiggs dinner (salt beef, cabbage, root veggies and pease pudding) and fried cod tongue (delicious! Honestly!).
I guess many would associate Norway with salmon, but I think the ultimate Norwegian food is "lutefisk", i.e. salted, dried cod prepared with lye. We only eat it around Christmas time, but then it is a ritual, served with boiled potatoes, mashed peas, bacon and mustard. You drink beer and "akevitt" with it. Another typical, more humble Norwegian specialty is the brown cheese, "brunost". It is kind of soft and sweet and you slice it in thin slices using an "ostehøvel" and put it on bread. Edit: I forgot to include what is my current home, France. First thing that comes to my mind food-wise is cheese. As Charles de Gaulle allegedly said, how can you govern a country that makes 365 different types of cheese? And let's be honest, "a good meal without cheese is like a pretty lady who has only one eye" (according to the "food philosopher" Brillat-Savarin).
