History Main / HollywoodCuisine

* Africa: ImAHumantarian, worms. "Bushmeat". Or [[DeadBabyComedy nothing at all]]. In reality, of course, Africans eat quite a lot of different foods.

** ''Pel'meni'' (dumplings with a variety of fillings, usually meat) may mistakenly be called pirogies. They are not remotely similar.

* German: Beer, sausages, sauerkraut, and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment beer]]. Sauerkraut is actually more popular in Russia and Poland, but is strongly associated with Germany. Everything will be extremely heavy and fattening, and so will the people eating it. Expect massive steins being served by [[BuxomIsBetter buxom maidens]] to men in lederhosen.

* French: Considered the 'king of cuisines' by the culinary world's version of [[TrueArt artistes]]. Tends to involve lots of baguettes, and wines and cheeses with funny names. And snails (called 'escargot' over there). And frogs. And the eponymous fries (which are, in France, associated with Belgium) and toast (unknown in France). Any French restaurant will invariably be called [[ChezRestaurant Chez Something or Other]] and be full of happy dining couples; the waiter will be a condescending jerk. At least one of two things will happen: the FishOutOfWater American tourist struggles with the unfamiliar pronunciation, food and dining etiquette; and when the bill comes, it will be immense.

* Vietnamese: If it's even brought up at all, it's pho and those baguette sandwiches. Reference might be made to some of the [[{{Squick}} grosser]] (to foreigners) foods the Vietnamese eat, such as offal, gizzards and eyeballs.

* Chinese: Lots of [[BreadMilkEggsSquick noodles, rice, vegetables and monosodium glutamate]], with some meat thrown in every now and then. (No, it is not dog.) They eat it with those funny-looking chopsticks that few Westerners can figure out.

** The most persistent myth is that all Chinese food is the same, despite being a huge (and diverse) country in both population and size. Aside from that, the [[{{Americanitis}} Americanized]] takeout food will always be presented as the genuine article. It does not remotely resemble true Chinese cuisine.

Of course, the cuisine of the writer's native country tends to get filled in a bit more. With local media, internal geographic regions and ethnicities may receive similar treatment.

** New England: A general surfeit of fish and other seafood, especially cod. [[FunetikAksent Don't fuhget tha chowdah.]]
** Pennsylvania is actually flavored by the Pennsylvania Dutch (who are actually [[NonIndicativeName German]], It's a long story) but thanks to Philidelphia all we get is cheesesteaks and pretzels (the soft kind).

** New Orleans: New Orleans food will be called "Cajun," and automatically assumed to be super-spicy. Actual Cajun cuisine is from Acadiana, west of New Orleans, and isn't usually very spicy straight out of the pot; you'll need to add the requisite dose of Tabasco for that. New Orleans cuisine is properly called "Creole." And for the record: Blackened ≠ Burnt. Write it down if you need to.

** Texas - a lot of food associated with the Deep South, plus "Tex-Mex" and lots of barbecue.
** New York - deli food, bagels, and baked ziti.

* British: Considered TheScrappy of cuisines by some Western sources, with stuff like blood pudding, mushy peas, warm beer, haggis (if you include [[BonnieScotland the Scots]]), and immature jokes about spotted dick. Oh, and tea. [[SpotOfTea Lots of tea]]. A more specific breakdown goes;
** English: Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding (the French actually nickname them 'rosbifs'), scones to go with our SpotOfTea, and Fish & Chips. The beer should actually be "cellar temperature" - i.e. kept in the cold, but not refrigerated.

** Scottish: There's the perception that they deep-fry everything. They ''[[TruthInTelevision do]]''; this troper made the mistake of asking for a pie and chips in a Scottish takeaway...they also have porridge, haggis and shortbread.
** Welsh: Lamb, and of course Welsh Rarebit (more authentically Welsh Rabbit, which is a joke and makes more sense) A thick sauce of cheese, beer and mustard, spread on toast and browned under the grill. Lesser known are "laver" (a type of seaweed, often used to make "laver bread") and cawl (a type of meat and vegetable stew, also used as the modern Welsh word for "soup").

** And whiskey.
*** Corned beef and cabbage are actual Irish-American staples, due to the poor Irish immigrants flocking to Jewish delis to eat (''bacon'' and cabbage is much more traditional in Ireland itself.)
** Occasionally Soda bread will make an appearance.
* French: Considered the 'king of cuisines' by the culinary world's version of [[TrueArt artistes]]. Tends to involve lots of baguettes and wine and cheeses with funny names. And snails (called 'escargot' over there). And frogs. And the eponymous fries (which are, in France, associated with Belgium) and toast (unknown in France).
* Italian: Pasta, pasta, and more pasta. Sometimes even pizza, too, if that isn't thrown into American cuisine instead. ''Macaroni''. Standard dishes also include spaghetti with meatballs and its close relative, ''spaghetti alla bolognese'' (crumbled ground beef added to the tomato sauce)--which, as a bit of trivia, are considered near-sacrilegious by the people who actually live in Bologna).
* Greek: Other than gyros, tends to get confused with Italian, even though it's closer to Middle Eastern. Also, olives, yogurt and goat's cheese.
* German: Beer, sausages, sauerkraut, and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment beer]]. Sauerkraut is actually more popular in Russia and Poland, but is strongly associated with Germany.
* Austrian: Similar to Germany, but add Wiener Schnitzel, apple strudel, and maybe Sachertorte.
* Hungarian: Goulash, goulash, ''goulash.'' Which actually applies to an entirely different food.
** This troper can attest this isn't really true ; Goulash (or, in Hungarian, Gulyas Leves) isn't eaten that often. More popular staple fast foods would be Langos (sort of a deep-fried pizza with sour cream) or anything with straight-up lard, mostly plain bread.
* Russian: Other than vodka and borscht, Hollywood doesn't know much about Russian food. Caviar ''might'' be mentioned.

*** ''[[BerserkButton Never]]'' ever mention this if you want to escape InternetBackdraft. Or remain in the sound mind, because in RealLife such discussions inevitably end up in a drinking competition. And both Poles and Russians consider Americans ''incredible'' [[CantHoldHisLiquor lightweights]] -- with some basis in reality.

* Polish: Sausages may appear unless they're already taken by Germans. Possibly vodka... Unless taken by Russians.
** Outside of Hollywood, bigos may appear -- a kind of a sauerkraut/sausage stew. Pierogi will appear if you're lucky.

* Chinese: Lots of noodles, rice, and monosodium glutamate, with some meat thrown in every now and then. And they eat it with those funny-looking chopsticks that few Westerners can figure out.

* Japanese: Like Chinese, except with raw fish.
** Sushi!!! [[DidNotDoTheResearch Which everyone thinks is nothing but raw fish!!!]]
* Korean: Mostly consists of barbeque and kimchi. Occasionally, the odd [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosintang dog soup]] joke is thrown around. Also can be [[FireBreathingDiner real spicy]].
* Indian/Thai: Both of these tend to be so spicy [[FireBreathingDiner they burn a hole in the diner's guts]] (Somewhat Truth in Television). Or curry. Lots and lots of curry. British TV tends to take a more charitable view of Indian food since it's [[strike:more common]] a staple food over there. And even then, it's usually the generic version of North-West Indian food seen in restaurants.
** Thai food in particular might be simplified to pad thai.
* Middle Eastern: Either gets lumped in with Indian food or consists of barely edible kebabs made from bits of animal that even dogs won't eat. If you got lucky and your writer has actually been to the Middle East, there will be falafel, hummus (which is becoming more popular in the US), tabbouleh, and pita bread.

* Vietnamese: If it's even brought up at all, it's pho and baguettes.

* Scandinavia in general: All sorts of unsavory preserved seafood dishes, spiced thin cookies, and [[PoisonIsCorrosive aquavit]].

** Sausage sizzles, kebabs (ESPECIALLY at 3 in the morning), spag bol and fish and chips.
* Africa: ImAHumantarian, worms. "Bushmeat". Or [[DeadBabyComedy nothing at all]].
** Northern Africa gets a slightly better press - but then, they had the French to help. Couscous, roasted vegetables, lamb... that yummy stuff with mint in it.

* Russian: Other than vodka and borscht, Hollywood doesn't know much about Russian food.

** Smörgåsar/smørrebrød, always rendered as "smorgasbord"
*** Although brød means bread and bord means table.

* Hungarian: Goulash, goulash, ''goulash.'' Which actually applies to an entirely different food.

* Greek: Other than gyros, tends to get confused with Italian, even though it's closer to Middle Eastern (!). Also, olives, yogurt and goat's cheese.

** English: Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding (the French actually nickname us 'rosbifs'), scones to go with our SpotOfTea, and Fish & Chips. The beer should actually be "cellar temperature" - i.e. kept in the cold, but not refrigerated.

** Pacific Northwest - Asian fusion, massive amounts of fish, and gallons of coffee.

* Canadian: Back bacon, maple syrup, beer, and poutine.
* Dutch: Cheese. They might also have ?special brownies.?

** Outside of Hollywood, bigos may appear -- a kind of a sauerkraut/sausage stew.

* Irish: Corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and Guinness.
** And whiskey.
*** Corned beef and cabbage are actual Irish-American staples, due to the poor Irish immigrants flocking to Jewish delis to eat (''bacon'' and cabbage is much more traditional in Ireland itself.)
** Occasionally Irish Stew and Soda bread will make an appearance.

* British: Considered TheScrappy of cuisines by some Western sources, with stuff like blood pudding, mushy peas, warm beer, haggis (if you include [[{{Scotireland}} the Scots]]), and immature jokes about spotted dick. Oh, and tea. [[SpotOfTea Lots of tea]]. A more specific breakdown goes;

*** Probably where the DeepSouth learned it.

** Irish: Potatoes and Guiness. They also have the most well known variation on the "Full English" breakfast; the Ulster Fry (bacon, eggs, sausages, soda bread and strong tea). Also known for stew.
* French: Considered the 'king of cuisines' by the culinary world's version of [[TrueArt artistes]]. Tends to involve lots of baguettes and wine and cheeses with funny names. And snails (called 'escargot' over there). And frogs. And the eponymous fries and toast which are actually Belgian.
* Italian: Pasta, pasta, and more pasta. Sometimes even pizza, too, if that isn't thrown into American cuisine instead. ''Macaroni''. Standard dishes also include spaghetti with meatballs and spaghetti alla bolognese (which, as a bit of trivia, are considered near-sacrilegious by the people who actually live in Bologna).

* German: Beer, sausages, sauerkraut, and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment beer]].
** Even though sauerkraut is more popular in Russia and Poland.

*** ''[[BerserkButton Never]]'' ever mention this if you want to escape InternetBackdraft. Or remain in the sound mind, because in RealLife such discussions inevitably end up in a drinking competition. And both Poles and Russians consider Americans an ''incredible'' [[CantHoldHisLiquor lightweights]] -- with some basis in reality.

* Mexican: Most people outside of Mexico think of this as tacos and burritos, but that's really just TheThemeParkVersion of real Mexican cuisine. Also tends to be [[FireBreathingDiner loaded with chili peppers]]. Also beans. And tequilla.

* Australian: Somewhat like Britain, but with Vegimite and beer. Emphasis on the beer. Also "shrimp on the barbie", though most real Australians use the term "prawn".

** New Orleans: New Orleans food will be called "Cajun," an automatically assumed to be super-spicy. Actual Cajun cuisine is from Acadiana, west of New Orleans, and isn't usually very spicy straight out of the pot; you'll need to add the requisite dose of Tabasco for that. New Orleans cuisine is properly called "Creole." And for the record: Blackened ≠ Burnt. Write it down if you need to.

* Polish: sausages may appear unless they're already taken by Germans. Possibly vodka... Unless taken by Russians.

** Welsh: Lamb, and of course Welsh Rarebit (more authentically Welsh Rabbit, whis is a joke and makes more sense) A thick sauce of cheese, beer and mustard, spread on toast and browned under the grill. Lesser known are "laver" (a type of seaweed, often used to make "laver bread") and cawl (a type of meat and vegetable stew, also used as the modern Welsh word for "soup").

** Welsh: Lamb, and of course Welsh Rarebit (cheese on toast). Lesser known are "laver" (a type of seaweed, often used to make "laver bread") and cawl (a type of meat and vegetable stew, also used as the modern Welsh word for "soup").