Is this something people track? What's considered "exotic?"

I've had buffalo wings, and American barbecue. Also I've been to American Thanksgiving meals with weird things like sweet potatoes with marshmallows on. So I've had some American ethnic food for one thing.

I don't want to go through all but some of the more interesting ones:

Ethiopian - delicious stew/curry type food with this fermented flatbread stuff that almost smells a bit like beer. Way better than this makes it sound, lol

Vietnamese - if you like Chinese food you will love it. It's somewhere between Thai and Chinese. They have an awesome beef noodle soup called pho

Jamaican - my family is partially from here so bias but jerk chicken is worth a mention alone. Very well spiced and usually super juicy chicken. Meat and rice type of stuff. But ackee and saltfish is interesting too, very salted cod mixed with this subtle flavoured fruit that looks a bit like eggs? Again better than it sounds.

Moroccan - If you're interested in Egyptian food (I also have no idea what that would be, lol) Morrocan is probably a good recommendation. They have a dish called tajine which is a well spiced chicken stew, they cook it in a special pot I think

Mexican! - I know it's obvious but in Europe Mexican restaurants are very basic. Tacos, burritos etc. But there are so many amazing dishes like mole (chocolate and chilli sauce, fucking delicious) that always get missed. There's one called queso relleño (?) That is basically like a very rich Bolognese wrapped in cheese and FRIED. Probably best not to eat too often. But maybe you guys in the US get more authentic Mexican food anyway

Also, saying "ethnic foods" comes across a little odd. Makes you sound like a 50 year old white guy who's never left his home town and isn't so sure about all this weird food these strange brown people eat. Nothing wrong with being white or culturally insulated of course, but probably not the look you were going for. Might explain the downvotes.

I don't know how to answer "exotic". "Exotic" can easily slip into xenophobic territory.

Maybe I answer with a restaurant from a specific culture that I had never been exposed to before? In which case, Himalayan/Tibetan/Nepalese. I could eat momos every day. But I say that about every savory-wrapped-in-dough thing. Dumplings, empanadas, bierocks, meat pies, xian bing, piroshki, is there a culture that doesn't have some variation of that? And it's always good. If ever there is need for a flag to represent Humanity, it should be of a savory pie.

My favourite cuisines I've had which were not common ones you can just find on any high street here were mostly found during the height of covid when I was working quite a way from home but the hotel's restaurant was closed so I had to order delivery each night.

• Nigerian: Ordered this a few times, peppersoup, moin moin, draw soup, eba amongst the things I had. Soon after a West African section opened in my local supermarket so I could at least get some of the main ingredients to cook some at home.
• Ethiopian: Amazing, not tried cooking any yet, some ingredients seem hard to come by
• Afghan: Had a bunch of times as there was a restaurant in my town
• Sri Lankan: Love it, superficially similar to Indian food but I was surprised just how different it was and has become one of my favourites that I cook at home with regularity.

Okay I won't hold it against you because I grew up Midwestern and to us Mexican and Chinese were considered "ethnic", but do realize that that is a very weird thing to just say. Now that I'm on the coast should I call tuna casserole or taco/breakfast food ethnic? Sounds weird right?

Next time you think ethnic food may be instead think of it like non-american food. To us, green bean casserole is a "normal" thing, to other people having a noodle dish is an appropriate normal holiday dish. "Normal" and "different" are all just from our point of view.

That's why you're being downvote, because you're on a world stage here, and when you're talking to someone and calling their food "ethnic" it demeans their culture, and that is a bit insulting. I am guessing it's just ignorance, but hey now you know.

That being said, have fun exploring your pallette! I've lost count of the different cuisines I've tried, but every one is a bit different! Never be afraid of trying new things!

Georgian should be more well known imo. Ethiopian is also a top choice, Guyanese and Peruvian are also pretty good. I've had lots but these are the most underrated I've found

Indian food is amazing.

Outback Steak house ? Lol wot?

I try to pick something I've never had before first my birthday meal every year. The best one was probably the Uzbek place. Everyone there kept trying to talk to me in Uzbek as we appeared to be the only native English speakers in the house, so I'll assume it was authentic.

All kinds of grilled meats, multiple types of breads, fancy sodas (tarragon was awesome!), sour cherry pierogies with whipped sour cream, stuffed pasta... They had some of everything with their own twist on it. I had plov, the national dish, which was a rice pilaf with grilled meat. Absolutely delicious.

I'd say the hardest cuisines to find here are anything African or anything Eastern European. For that though, the secret is keeping an eye out for church festivals. The Greek Orthodox Church has one that has African and Eastern European, the Polish shrine has a Polish festival, and the Coptic church had Egyptian.

I grew up in the Bay Area so it would probably be easier to list the foods I haven't tried.

Unfortunately I moved and don't have access to 8/9ths of those anymore. It's dismal.

Wait, you thought Egyptian restaurants don’t exist? Especially for a melting pot like the US, I assume the opposite, that there is always a food place that serves a particular cuisine from somewhere in the world.

But to answer your question, and assuming by exotic, you mean anything that isn’t your standard fare American, European, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese, or Japanese food, then I’ve had:

• Ethiopian
• Thai
• Singaporean
• Filipino
• Taiwanese
• Iraqi
• Afghan
• Indian

Ethnic and exotic food suddenly sound like very strange terms. This question made me realize that people from outside would call the food of my country simply Brazilian food, but we ourselves divide and subdivided them in more categories. I'm sure the same is true everywhere.

I know this is not a question for discussion, but I thought this could add more variety to the answers.

well barring that many of these ethnic restaurants might be serving things created in america. mexican, cuban, indian, pakistani, chinese, korean, japanese, thai, lithuanian, irish, english, french, italian, argentinian, greek, german, might be others but this is all I can think of. Honestly not sure what the falafel places are considered.

I’m in US… not sure I’d say fluent. “Exotic”…… Thai, Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese. And one time I got oxtail from a roadside food stand 30 years ago… one of my students was from Trinidad and his mom recommended it. But the food I had in Belgium was to die for. Food in Denmark was interesting too.

I have eaten Romanian food , Polish food , Guatemalan food , Salvadorian food , most of the Latin American countries.

I love Chinese food and will eat it almost daily.

Chinese Japanese Thai Vietnamese Korean Mongolian Cambodia Indian Pakistani Nepalese.... Those are just the Asian ones off the top of my head.

I've made a bunch international friends throughout my life and anyways get them to cook or to take me to the most authentic place they know.

I don’t want to inappropriately appropriate so I only eat white food:

• rice
• italian bread
• french bread
• naan
• mashed potatoes
• french fries with albino ketchup
• sugar
• splenda (no packet)
• cocaine
• egg whites
• peeled radishes
• mozzarella cheese
• feta cheese
• cheese sticks
• string cheese
• cheese powder
• cheese product
• popcorn
• etc

• Chinese
• Japanese
• Korean
• Vietnamese
• Malaysian
• North and South Indian
• Ethiopian
• Lebanese
• Greek
• Italian
• Mexican
• Caribbean
• some African (not sure the region)
• Swedish if you count what Ikea serves at their restaurants :)

I've had my fun around here and lately found more unusual ones... Here's stuff I remember off the top of my head that aren't the "local" around here (Lisboa, PT), append restaurant to the following:

Indian Nepalese Tibetan Cantonese Chinese Cantonese dimsun Japanese Several Fusion sushi, ramen, udon, tempura etc Spanish tapas Mexican Peruan Peruan cheviche Argentinian grilk Brazilian rodízio Brazilian(Paulista) pizza, Indian pizza, Israeli pizza, local pizza, actual Italian pizza Italian Greek Greek pita Levantine Morrocan Thematic medieval American American diner American grill Mozambican Angolan Cape verdian Ethiopian German sausage Vietnamese Indonesian Australian grill Belgian fries Canadian fries

Whenever I added something to the nationality the place focused on a dish rather than a broader cuisine. I'm surprised I never visited a self entitled French restaurant over here... The Swiss and French have all those tartar and grilled tiny chicken that could make success in a thematic restaurant.

Edit: might also add, I'm sure all of these are adapted to the local taste. We don't handle spice like most of Asia and Mexico for example. Friends who ate in Shanghai described a very different experience to what we get in a Chinese restaurant here, even if the dishes are the same.

I live in the south, and we don't have many Mexican restaurants. We have more Asian restaurants. Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese. Also Ethiopian is delicious.