Originally Posted by
squeeler
I trust you are having a laugh. I suggest you get out of the US more often.
I was once party to a debate about where I had eaten the best pizza - Domino's, Pizza Hut or Papa John's. I had to answer 'Naples' (a place in Italy BTW).
My gut feeling (and a reason I posted this), is that
a certain percentage (present company excluded, of course) of people who say they prefer Italian pizza are fibbing. I think some people's real motivation is the enjoyment of telling their friends they've experienced something more and/or better than them, and have been places others have not.
When people said "Italy has the best pizza" throughout my childhood, they successfully made me jealous and made me want to try Italian pizza. When I got there, the food was utter disappoinment (the coffee, desserts & pastries on the other hand, were primo!).
Our joke (actually true in our opinion) was the best pizza we had in Europe, was in London (I hear more heads exploding). We tried a different pizza or pasta restaurant every single meal in Italy in search of something we liked. Funny enough, the first thing we did when we got home was to order pickup from Pizza Hut on the way home from the airport.
I honestly am still waiting to experience cuisine that makes me long to return to that country. I'd love to go to Rome to see the sites, but not to a pizzeria. I'd love to sit in a Parisian cafe again, but can take or leave the bistro. Amman, Beirut & Cairo have their own pluses, but I can get the same or better Mediterannean food around the corner. I have just about always found something I like as much or better near home. We don't invent a whole lot of worthwhile culture, but we're great at importing the best of it.
Another example: I spent 4 months over two years in Lima and Cuzco, Peru. The best Peruvian restaurant I've been to, not shockingly, is in Miami. And I have family in Lima that took me to some really nice places.
The only thing I've ever partaken abroad that I wish we had in the U.S. was a blended mango drink I had in Cairo. It literally was pure blended mango chilled and poured in a glass, and cost less than $1 US. Prohibitively expensive drink for most Egyptians
... for me it was amazing. I'd love to have that again.
And FWIW, I enjoyed pizza in Naples more than the pizza in Rome, but neither is enjoyable to me as Papa John's. Or a New York slice (yum), or a deep dish Chicago pizza (drool).
They're practically different foods. Although the presentation (inside a cardboard box or on a paper plate) and atmosphere may be lacking, it's not that illogical to prefer the food itself.