... You realise I teach french ? To 11-14 years old french kids, which is the most difficult of all.

And I've just spent four hours emptying a red pen correcting first draws for essays. If that's language natural evolution, we're prolly heading back toward self-replicating blobs.

I love Lindt, especially the 85% and 70% dark chocolate, and the mint dark chocolate!


Yeah, it is weird. It's something of a cross between marshmallow and jello, sprinkled with icing sugar. It originates in, duh, Turkey, and is very popular in the Middle East and North Africa, and only a little less popular in Europe.

You won't find exotic restaurants in rural areas here, but big cities: Indian, Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Greek, Bulgarian, Italian, Spanish, Middle Eastern, Moroccan, Malay, English, American... and a lot of companies will point out plainly that their food is both Halaal and Kosher.

No Mexican or Japanese yet, though.

Doesn't look like anyone's answered this yet, they're called Poutine, I think.

Here Italian food restaurants are the most common, usually owned by Indian people... we also have Chinese and Indian (some specifically Goan, seeing as it was a portuguese colony) aplenty and I've seen some Thai and Japanese ones, although I never saw a Korean or Greek. Mexican? I have yet to find one, and I've wanted to try out mexican food for a while now... I mean, it seems Taco Bell is all over America

And mind you, that's near Lisbon, the capital. Rural areas usually are very scarce on foreign food restaurants, and the other cities don't have as much variety...


To all americans: Is the stereotype of American cops eating a lot of donuts really true? eheh

I belive turkish delight is made with rosewater. Lovely flavour.

Not really, I found a swordfencing sword and mask when I was younger, but that was about it. My mother also has some brass ornaments, but I dont know how old they are.

England's got all kinds of terrible chain restaurants. I still can't get my head around Nando's, which is meant to be a Portugese chicken place.

Have you ever had the "fish" flavored http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Salt.sill.jpeg?

I've always wanted to try some salmon-flavored candy.

I didn't know, it must be a lot of work. All I mean is that the French language is way too conservative for its own good. It's like it has mostly been kept frozen in more or less the same state than it was in the 19th century. No, I don't think that children shouldn't be taught grammar (to avoid mistakes like "je suis aller") but grammar rules could use some simplification without losing language subtleties, at least imo. Also half of the difficulty in learning French comes from the needlessly complicated spelling of words, it's a joke compared to other romance languages. There's also the shunning of any non standard accent (you hardly ever hear a news anchor speak with a southern accent or a suburb accent)...

I'm sorry if what I say comes across as confrontational, that is really not my intent. I'm just tired of the elitist approach to French grammar, spelling and speech that is so prevalent these days. And I do think that French dubbing has a really acceptable level of polish, even if it's not on par with Baudelaire or Hugo.

I dont understand why people cisit those places for foreign food. We have the internet. Use that.

I prefer the food I make tbh, its also most likely healthier.

I tried Nando's once and it was rubbish and expensive. Great business model though. It's like a slightly upmarket KFC and they charge 2x the price...

I had no idea of this, and it is gold. Just checked out their website... I can't really see what is portuguese about them (except for the fact that hm, we grill chicken? But I guess that so does everyone, everywhere). We don't even say PERI-PERI, we say piri piri, and here in Portugal it isn't used that much. Seems more like some monzabican food chain, that started in South-Africa. Even the words they use to refer to managers "Patr?os" is technically incorrect in original portuguese (it should be Patr?es). Don't know if they say it like that on Mozambique though.

It's a gimmick I think, but it's really popular over here.

I know what you mean. I went once to see what it was like (since everyone raves about it) and I'm never going again. The food wasn't even that good and it was expensive. I've had better meals in pubs.

Thank you. I'm going to google a recipe and buy the stuff to make it when I go to town today.

Well, the elitist approach is government-mandated, so... But the French aren't so stuffy. Did you know, for instance, that the Congolese French-speakers speak a more "proper" French than the French do? This is typically the case in African countries that were previously French colonies.

So turkish delight was rosewater flavored gummy covered in chocolate? That would be why I couldn't place the flavor at all.

Eh, I'm not sure what the obsession is with Mexican and TexMex (Mexican with a Texas twist I guess) foods. I'm the only person I know who doesn't like it, but to me it seems to taste pretty much the same. Lots of beans, cilantro, chiles, rice, and some basic seasonings. Though I understand wanting to try something new. Oh and just FYI: Taco Bell is not really Mexican in any form or fashion. It's Americanized fast food with a take on Mexican. You'll see a lot of that in America though... where things aren't really like it would be say - closer to the border or IN Mexico or wherever the food is from. Even if a place is run by someone from that country, they tone it down to appeal to mass American taste. (Which isn't saying much.)

And I guess police eat donuts as much as the next person... those shops tend to be open longer hours so they're about the only places open in the wee hours.. though I'm not sure where they stereotype came from. ( I do giggle when I see cops coming out of donut shops though. )

I dont eat at any fast food places. Mcdonalds, kfc, burger king, etc. I dont see the appeal, sure its fast, but its not healthy and im not big on the taste.

There may be other things, but yeah thats pretty much it. Though I prefer the one you see in the UK at christmas. You get them in a box, with icing sugar, and some are lemo flavoured. Not as nice as the normal ones. But I prefer the taste without chocolate.

I love a bit of Macdonalds when I'm pissed at 3 in the morning, but I'd never normally eat it.

Only the Fry's one I mentioned a few posts back: it's not usually covered in chocolate... though I prefer it when it is! The Fry's stuff is also somewhat more like regular jelly whereas other (presumably more authentic) varieties can be really quite dense.

Nando's pales in comparison to the Mecca of terrible food that is Little Chef.

I agree, which is why I would really love to see the French Academy completely disbanded. What a useless institution... :/
That's because most speakers in Africa speak French as a second language, so they are taught a very formal, neutral French (edit: although it seems the upper classes in some countries speak a very formal form of French as a first language, interesting). Places in Africa where French has become a real "native" language have developed colloquial forms of French with some really interesting linguistic innovations and lexical borrowings from other languages. I'm thinking of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_French#Abidjan_French_vocabulary in particular, I read a comic written in Abidjan French a few years ago and I was very impressed by the innovative use of the language.

I guess with a quick google search that the Fry's one is what I had because it was covered in chocolate. I know it was imported by Cadbury and that's what keeps coming up. And funny story: As I was checking out at the grocery store with it, the cashier and bag boy both asked me to try it there in the check out. They were curious about it too but wouldn't dare try it. lol Let's just say it was NOT what we had expected when I opened the package and saw a little chocolate bar. I bit into it and was like "what the..." as it was the very first chocolate covered gummy I have ever had. lol The actual taste of the gummy I've never had either. They kept asking me what it tasted like but I couldn't tell them. Not that it was bad, but it wasn't quite to my liking. What other types of sweets do you guys eat over there?

And new question: To anyone outside of the US - what's your favorite meal from around your area/country? I'm looking to start making a dinner club that meets once a month to try recipes from around the world.

I've seen enough cops in donut shops to validate the stereotype. Usually, I think it's for the coffee...but yeah.

Wait, so you guys actually have shops dedicated to donuts? I am amazed, seriously.