These Countries Have The Best Food In The World

‘What country has the best food in the world’ is arguably the toughest topic to debate at the dinner table, especially on an empty stomach. The world is a dazzling and diverse buffet, and with so many delicious dishes, travelers are spoiled for choice no matter if they’re picky eaters, health-conscious, or have an insatiable appetite.

Visit these ten countries with an open mind and an open mouth and you’ll discover the world’s tastiest food on your travels. 

Italy

Italy is the ultimate destination for food. There’s a reason so many people refer to it as Eataly: it’s the birthplace of Neapolitan pizza, focaccia, and the polenta most people know and love today. Italian cuisine is so ubiquitous that so many travelers find a taste of home when dining out in Italy — even if they have no familial ties to the country itself. 

The hundreds of variations of pasta and olive oil itself warrant an Italian stamp on your passport, but these noodles are nowhere near the only representation of one of the best cuisines in the world.

Seafood dishes in Sardinia and Sicily are just as unique as those from the Amalfi Coast and Cinque Terre. Florentine steak and Tuscan style Lampredotto rival the lasagna and cheese found in Emilia-Romagna’s restaurants. Travelling to Italy means taking your tastebuds on a culinary adventure, no matter if it’s fine dining in Rome or a humble osteria in Bari. 

Spend hours enjoying a farm-to-table dinner in Tuscany and lunch in the Emilia-Romagna region during our Easy Pace Italy tour.

Japan

Japan’s profound impact on world cuisine is even more impressive considering it’s only really spread across the globe over the last century. To think that sushi, an immensely popular food in the United States and Europe, didn’t explode until the 1990s shows just how revered Japanese cuisine becomes once it’s made accessible to the general dining population.

While miso soup, yakitori, onigiri, and ramen are must-tries when visiting, curry rice (karē raisu), the country’s national dish, should be your first meal in Japan. It’s not the oldest dish on the island, but it’s a homecooked meal held close to the heart. Japanese curry is more savory thanks to its commonly-used roux base and isn’t as spicy as an Indian curry.  

The United States of America

When it comes to comfort food, look to the USA. The United States has no shortage of fine dining restaurants from sea to shining sea, but most born and bred Americans will tell you that the mom-and-pop restaurants serve up food that’s straight from the heart. 

Barbecue, be it Carolina, Alabama, Kansas City, Memphis, or Texas style, is a big deal across the states. Pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, and crispy fried chicken are a win nearly anywhere you go. Chicken-fried steak and soul food in the southeast rivals Tex-Mex and poblano eats in the southwest. California burritos and Connecticut lobster rolls anchor their respective coastlines. 

Chicago, New Orleans, Austin, and Portland — both Portlands, in fact — are overflowing with homecooked favorites and fusion grub, so much so that visiting only one city in the United States hardly counts as an appetizer to the country’s wide-ranging cuisine. 

Look for lobster rolls, New York style pizza, Philly cheesesteaks, and more on our Best of East Coast USA tour.

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Thailand 

Thailand has no problem getting a featured space on a plate, despite being surrounded by countries like Japan that are regularly regarded as having the best cuisines in the world. Thai curry on its own stands strong against the best that India, Jamaica, and Japan can whip up. Kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk, and an array of chilies bring this dish into the limelight. From the green papaya found in som tam salad to the tom yum paste mixed into the strong hot and sour soup, Thai food never shies away from fresh ingredients bursting with color. 

China

Chinese food is one of the most accessible cuisines in terms of diversity. Fixtures like dumplings, sweet and sour pork, fried rice, and Peking duck can please any hungry traveler while foodies will find joy in culinary delights like duck blood soup. Whether it’s dim sum in Hong Kong or Di Shui Dong ribs in Shanghai, rarely does a traveler ever visit any corner of China without leaving with a full stomach and a wide smile. 

France

Which country has the best food in the world? The Michelin Guide says France: the country is home to the most three-star Michelin restaurants on the planet. In total, it has over 600 restaurants with at least one Michelin star. 

French cuisine is thousands of years of cooking techniques, refined. Long before the country became renowned for its high-end cuisine, this area of the world was inhabited by the Celts and the Romans, influenced by the Silk Road and the Renaissance, and countless ingredients from its colonized territories. The amalgamation of global ingredients and centuries of cooking methods shines in dishes like cassoulet, pot-au-feu, and bouillabaisse. 

From a Champagne tasting session and Grenoble dinner to aperitifs in Saint Paul de Vence and a farm to table dinner in La Roque-Gageac, discover a wealth of French cuisine on our Country Roads of France tour.

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Vietnam

Vietnam has long been one of the best countries for foodies. A bowl of pho, a banh mi on the go, and deep fried cha gio spring rolls top the list on a Vietnamese street food scavenger hunt. Rice is certainly one of the most important ingredients in Vietnamese cuisine; look to the millions upon millions of metric tons grown on the country’s rice paddies. 

No talk of Vietnam’s cuisine can begin without acknowledging just how important French, Indian, and Chinese influences are. The French baguette, brought to the country during colonization, is arguably the defining ingredient in a banh mi. Compare Vietnamese noodle, stir fry, and rice dishes to see strong similarities to the Chinese originals. Meanwhile, India’s spices and cooking techniques continue to be present in dishes like cary, the Vietnamese curry. 

Spain

The search for which country in the world has the best food might start and stop in Spain. Spanish food is a rich cultural heritage that you can taste. Simply calling it “Spanish” food is almost an insult to the exceptional range of flavors, cooking techniques, and historic significance that many foods have in their respective regions. 

Catalan food puts a premium on pork in equivocal but vastly different ways than an Andalucian chef views Iberian ham. With so much of Spain surrounded by sea, kokotxas in the Basque Country and paella from Valencia showcase a fresh catch in ways that date back centuries. 

And then, there are tapas, which not only vary from city to city but can be vastly different from restaurant to restaurant. Spain is an elite-level country for foodies in Europe and is debatably underranked in the conversation of which country has the best food in the world. 

Read about more great Spanish dishes: Best Food in Spain: Top Dishes You Need to Try

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Peru

In South America, few countries can claim culinary dominance like Peru. That’s not to say that Argentina’s asado and Colombia’s empanadas aren’t spectacular, but as far as the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list is concerned, Peru consistently gets top marks. Ceviche is the dish most travelers gravitate to first, and for good reason: fresh fish, lime juice, and red onion alone bring a burst of flavor. The side of toasted corn cancha and sweet potatoes add just the right amount of extra substance to solidify the meal.

Peru has thousands of potato varieties growing throughout its varied climate-zones. You’ll almost always spy the spud in your meal, whether that be as a creamy chicken “aji de Gallina” or the casserole-like causa.  

Have a Pachamanca lunch in the Sacred Valley and al fresco Cusquenian lunch in Cusco on our Peru With Machu Picchu tour.

India

Spices and curry can transform a simple dish in India into an unforgettable meal. But don’t assume that similar-sounding menus speak for the entire country. India’s geography ranges from the high-altitude Himalayas to the backwaters of Kerala and its culinary history includes strong Persian, Portuguese, and Islamic influences. Simply eating a kebab or biryani is to taste the cultural exchange that never left India. 

Point your culinary compass in any of the four directions and you’ll find a different hallmark of Indian cuisine. Dairy via ghee and paneer are prominent in the north. Rice and sugarcane reign in the south while the west and the east both limit their spice use. 

Take a food tour with a Delhi chef and take a cooking session in Jaipur on our Classical India with Nepal, a Women-Only Tour.

Which country has the highest food quality?

According to the Global Food Security Index, Canada has the highest food quality. Measuring both quality and safety, the GFSI ranks Canada number one with an 89.5 score, which is just ahead of Denmark’s 89.1. Although Canada ranks lower in availability and sustainability/adaptation, the country ties with Sweden for having the seventh-best overall GFSI score. 

What European country has the best food?

France has one of the most respected cuisines on the planet, but there’s plenty of room on the plate for other culinary delights. Along with Italy, many Europeans and international travelers consider Greece, Spain, and Portugal as top-tier tastes. 

Other countries top the list on the Global Food Security Index, though: Finland has the highest overall score in the world, Netherlands is the most affordable in Europe, and Norway has the highest European ranking for sustainability and adaptation.

Did you know that premium dining is a feature on every one of our worldwide collection of premium tours?