If you’ve missed it, my Facebook group, Travelers Tell All (yes, please join), has been running tournaments to keep ourselves amused while we can’t travel. We first decided what the best city in the world was, then the best US national park, the best man-made wonder, the best museum in the world, the best natural wonder in the world, and the best item on the ultimate California bucket list. Now it’s time to delve into my greatest love – food – with the best cuisine of the world! I included both national and regional cuisines to get to 64. There were no qualifications for who could vote, or criteria they had to use. It was just a plain old popularity contest!
I divided the tournament into four “regionals,” seeded one to sixteen, and named after four of the taste buds: Sweet, Sour, Salty, and Umami. The seeding is fairly arbitrary, made by me based on what I think should be seeded where, not necessarily how I would personally rank things. Let’s examine the results by regional.
Italics won in the first round. Underlined italics won in the second round. Bold underlined italics advanced to the regional final by winning in the third round.
Sweet Regional
The Sweet regional first round looked like this:
(1) Italian vs (16) Nigerian
(8) Californian vs (9) Taiwanese
(5) Brazilian (12) Lyonnaise
(4) Moroccan vs (13) Romanian
(3) Southern vs (14) Egyptian
(6) German vs (11) Singaporean
(7) Hungarian vs (10) Colombian
(2) Chinese vs (15) Fijian
The 3-seed, Southern, lost in the first round, along with the 5, 6, and 7 seeds, allowing second seeded Chinese and top seed Italian to cruise.
Regional Winner: (1) Italian def (2) Chinese
Biggest Surprise: Singaporean winning a couple of matches as an 11.
Peking Duck in Beijing
Sour Regional
The Sour regional first round looked like this:
(1) Mexican vs (16) Welsh
(8) Portuguese vs (9) Provençal
(5) Filipino vs (12) Polish
(4) Creole/Cajun vs (13) Panamanian
(3) Greek vs (14) Russian
(6) Puerto Rican vs (11) Scottish
(7) Swiss vs (10) Turkish
(2) Vietnamese vs (15) Ghanaian
This one went mostly according to seed, though Greek over Vietnamese was a surprise to me.
Regional Winner: (1) Mexican def (3) Greek
Biggest Surprise: None, really.
Tacos in Mexico City
Salty Regional
The Salty regional first round looked like this:
(1) Japanese vs (16) South African
(8) Oaxacan vs (9) Norwegian
(5) Israeli vs (12) Yucatán
(4) Cuban vs (13) Mongolian
(3) Indian vs (14)
(6) Salvadoran vs (11) Dutch
(7) Szechuan vs (10) Danish
(2) Spanish vs (15) Canadian
Another dull regional by upsets, although Indian defeating Spanish was just wrong. Jamon is everything.
Regional Winner: (1) Japanese def (3) Indian
Biggest Surprise: Not a one.
Sushi in Tokyo
Umami Regional
The Umami regional first round looked like this:
(1) Thai vs (16) English
(8) Hawaiian vs (9) Swedish
(5) Argentine vs (12) Indonesian
(4) Persian vs (13) Cambodian
(3) Korean vs (14) Tanzanian
(6) Ethiopian vs (11) Peruvian
(7) Baja Californian vs (10) Hong Kongese
(2) French vs (15) Nicaraguan
The 3 seed Korean losing early likely didn’t make a difference, as French was the strongest 2 seed, almost taking the region.
Regional Winner: (1) Thai def (2) French
Biggest Surprise: 11th seeded Peruvian won two matches, including taking out Korean.
Classical French in Lyon
Final Four
Match One: (1) Mexican def (1) Italian
Match Two: (1) Japanese def (1) Thai
Final: (1) Mexican def (1) Japanese
My personal top two met here, with Mexican defeating Italian in a close match, and then going on to take out Japanese fairly easily in the final. Do you agree with Mexican as the top cuisine in the world?
Like it? Pin it!
