I’m not a big fan of India, but their cuisine and especially its focus on vegetables instead of meat is something I always thought was great
I’m not vegetarian or anti-meat or anything like that, but eating more vegetables and less meat is good not only for your health, but also the planet IMHO
In general I’m jealous of countries where the norm is for them to eat healthier food. I grew up eating the typical crap 'Murican diet and it’s left me very unhealthy. I’ve been trying desperately to change that, but it’s such a slow process to change what you’re used to. I get repulsed by things that people in other countries just look at as at worst a normal part of their diet or sometimes they even actively like it. I wish I had grown up being socialized on that before things got so out of hand.
Post soviet and balkan countries are similar, because meat consumption (and being fat in general) used to be a status symbol, especially pork, which is particularly unhealthy compared to e.g. chicken
Luckily this started drying up in the early 2010s, but you can still find (or rather, accidentally run into) restaurants by the thousands where the whole point is that they put a truckwagonload of food on your plate for you to “enjoy” and nothing else (food that’s typically mediocre at best, and sub-mediocre and unhealthy at the usual)
You can also find people, typically older or rural folks who, if asked how a particular restaurant or meal was, 95% of their answer would be about the portion itself, and rarely about the quality of ingredients, preparation/serving style, atmosphere, etc.
So overall food has started becoming much better over the last decade and half, but most restaurants are still very much afraid of putting smaller portions of higher quality food on your plate because of potential backlash or criticism
I’m not a big fan of India, but their cuisine and especially its focus on vegetables instead of meat is something I always thought was great
I’m not vegetarian or anti-meat or anything like that, but eating more vegetables and less meat is good not only for your health, but also the planet IMHO
In general I’m jealous of countries where the norm is for them to eat healthier food. I grew up eating the typical crap 'Murican diet and it’s left me very unhealthy. I’ve been trying desperately to change that, but it’s such a slow process to change what you’re used to. I get repulsed by things that people in other countries just look at as at worst a normal part of their diet or sometimes they even actively like it. I wish I had grown up being socialized on that before things got so out of hand.
Post soviet and balkan countries are similar, because meat consumption (and being fat in general) used to be a status symbol, especially pork, which is particularly unhealthy compared to e.g. chicken
Luckily this started drying up in the early 2010s, but you can still find (or rather, accidentally run into) restaurants by the thousands where the whole point is that they put a truckwagonload of food on your plate for you to “enjoy” and nothing else (food that’s typically mediocre at best, and sub-mediocre and unhealthy at the usual)
You can also find people, typically older or rural folks who, if asked how a particular restaurant or meal was, 95% of their answer would be about the portion itself, and rarely about the quality of ingredients, preparation/serving style, atmosphere, etc.
So overall food has started becoming much better over the last decade and half, but most restaurants are still very much afraid of putting smaller portions of higher quality food on your plate because of potential backlash or criticism