The Country in Europe With The Best Food an Culture Is Surley

[Strike For The South]

Italy

How can one disagree?

[Odin]

Italy

How can one disagree?

It would be easy to argue but a large waste of time. I found Holland to be spectacular but that was pre euro, who knows what the hell its like now.

[al Roumi]

It would be easy to argue but a large waste of time. I found Holland to be spectacular but that was pre euro, who knows what the hell its like now.

Hell I should think. That's certainly the impression our resident dutchman Fragony paints. No wait, it was worse than hell last time.

[Vladimir]

England. I love roast beef and their slang.

[Kagemusha]

I would say France, but its a tough call.

[Andres]

Italy

How can one disagree?

No more fries for you, traitor!

[Strike For The South]

I would say France, but its a tough call.

Que? What is the France?

[Ronin]

England. I love roast beef and their slang.

and just imagine how much better it could be if they used some ******* seasoning!!!
most un-impressive country as it comes to food I have ever visited...everything tasted like nothing.

[Kagemusha]

Que? What is the France?

It is the Cosmopolitan culture and its cuisine.You take some Celtic, German and Latin. Add bit of North African, Spanish,Norse and dont forget the touch of Basque to the mix and there you go. ;)

[Louis VI the Fat]

Woe betide me! There is only one place I fear, and Strike has found it!


Nevertheless, I must pick up the gauntlet. I shall open with just a small village:





The town of Lacoste.
Some of the buildings date back to the ninth century. The building style has changed little since. The bridge over the river predates Christ. The site has been inhabited since paleolithic times (35000 years!), although the current settlement is mesolithic in style, dating from the middle ages...the middle stone ages that is, 9000 years old.

Lacoste has always been special, different. Protestant amidst Catholics. Communist in a conservative region. Rebellious. Lascivious too, the most famous resident of that eleventh century castle on top of the hill was...Marquis de Sade. The birthplace of modern western sexual deviancy. The castle now belongs to fashion designer Pierre Cardin.
Every summer, an opéra festival is held in the city's ancient quarry, from whose stone the timeless city is build. Exquisite wine is served, made from the sun-baked grapes one can see in the bottom of the picture.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Any further provocations will be met with ruthless pictures showcasing the superiority of French life and culture.
You will learn what it means to have been the centre of Western civilisation for fifteen centuries, ten more than the short-lived Romans.

[Louis VI the Fat]

No more fries for you, traitor!

Fries? French fries?

A French invention, which some Belgian nationalists try to claim is theirs.

[Don Corleone]

Fries? French fries?

A French invention, which some Belgian nationalists try to claim is theirs.

I seem to remember that back in 2004 when the whole foolish subject of "Freedom Fries" arose, you and your countrymen wanted no parts of claiming this product. Apparently somebody has taken Msr. Sarkozy's appeal to "reclaim French culture, real or imagined around the globe" to heart.

As for the O.P. I would like to offer a vote for Spain. Their cuisine & cultural contributions, while fantastic, are admittedly close on the heels of France and Italy. However, the 3rd dimension of higher living, the beauty of their beauties... Penelope Cruz alone carries the day for Espana.

[Vuk]

lol, I will agree that Italy has the best food in Europe (followed closely by Greece), but as far as culture goes...sorry. :P

[Peasant Phill]

I would say Belgium but I would hate all you savages overrunning this paragon of culture and cuisine.

But serious, a lot of European countries/regions have there own rich identity which you can love for certain reasons. (can't speak much for other countries).

[Megas Methuselah]

lol, I will agree that Italy has the best food in Europe (followed closely by Greece), but as far as culture goes...sorry. :P

Oh. I thought you were a fan of fast food and freedom fries.

[gaelic cowboy]

The castle now belongs to fashion designer Pierre Cardin.

Ye mean the fella who makes those rubbish shirts no self respecting fashionista would wear at all at all

[Hosakawa Tito]

I would say France, but its a tough call.

Sorry, they're on strike.

[Vladimir]

Sorry, they're on strike.

Not all of them. Just the ones with jobs.

[Louis VI the Fat]

For those who feel the need to make French jokes - I shall smite you with pictures so stunning you will beg for mercy before the end of this thread. This earth has more beauty than your eyes can bear...more than your heart dares to dream about...

Ye mean the fella who makes those rubbish shirts no self respecting fashionista would wear at all

No, not Lacoste, the brand founded by the French tennis legend. Pierre Cardin, the great 1960s/70s designer.

I seem to remember that back in 2004 when the whole foolish subject of "Freedom Fries" arose, you and your countrymen wanted no parts of claiming this product. Apparently somebody has taken Msr. Sarkozy's appeal to "reclaim French culture, real or imagined around the globe" to heart.

As for the O.P. I would like to offer a vote for Spain. Their cuisine & cultural contributions, while fantastic, are admittedly close on the heels of France and Italy. However, the 3rd dimension of higher living, the beauty of their beauties... Penelope Cruz alone carries the day for Espana.

Let's leave it at the knowledge that Belgium is but a renegade province of French civilisation.


Spain - good one! Spain is hot on the heels of both France and Italy. Indeed, Spain's awakening gives it a certain hip edge over the two established giants.
My hot tip though is Portugal, to me the finest part of Iberia.



Speaking of Spain, did you know that France's Southwest is quite Iberian in culture? That is the big difference with Italy. Italy is just Mediterranean, with a tiny bit Alpine. France, by contrast, is the whole of Europe in one country. Southern and Northern. Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Béarn, near Lescun, in France's southwest, of which Spain's lush northwest is an extention. Complete with donkeys like the ones Don Quichotte would've ridden:




France's southeast south then, of which Spain's northeast is an extention. The town of Collioure, a French Catalan speaking town, the local chateau is seventh century visigothic:

[Louis VI the Fat]

I would say Belgium but I would hate all you savages overrunning this paragon of culture and cuisine.

Belgium is fantastic! A fabulous extention of Northern French civilisation.


See this is why France is superior to Italy. We have got everything that the south offers, all of the food, the dolce vita, the sunshine. The products that grow in the mediterranean lands, with its harsh topsoils and unlimited sunshine. But unlike Italy, we also have the muddy clay of the north, its grey skies. The butter and the meat of Picardie in the north, the orchards of Normandy in the northwest, the Atlantic seafoods of Brittany.



They don't have this in Italy

[Husar]

And I was already wondering what kind of country "Surley" is....

[Tellos Athenaios]

For those who feel the need to make French jokes

*insert obligatory French joke here*

you will beg for mercy ask for more before the end of this thread. This earth has more beauty than your eyes can bear...more than your heart dares to dream about...

Bring it on!

[Don Corleone]

Isn't that last photo Biltmore House in Asheville, NC Louis? No fair stealing our architecture to fill your portfolio.

[gaelic cowboy]

No, not Lacoste, the brand founded by the French tennis legend. Pierre Cardin, the great 1960s/70s designer.

No I was referring to Pierre Cardin which is pretty average quality the cuffs and sleves fray very quick and the double cuff variety split after maybe a week . Time spent working during college in Hotels cured me of his apparel very quick.




France is gonna have to work very hard to beat the kind of stuff I saw in Positano or Capri these are not my photos I lost my photos from there.
I went last year to wedding there but I couldn't fault the scenery except it maybe was bit pricey and that is something coming from an Irishman.

Think that is the Blue Grotto in Capri



Positano by day



Positano by night

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I have been to Italy and France, Italy was prettier and the food was better. I visited Paris after Rome and, aside from the smell from the river, my most enduring impression was "bling".

Roman waiters are also much nicer than Parisian ones and it seems like EVERYONE in Paris smokes.

To say nothing of the lecherous old man who wanted to draw my sister.

[Vuk]

Oh. I thought you were a fan of fast food and freedom fries.

lol, I am a fan of the Hardees menu, but that does not mean that I cannot appreciate other foods as well. If I had to compare the greatest foods in the world, I think that the list would be something like this:
Italian
{Greek
Tie
{Hardees menu
Indian
Korean

"VUK! How can you put American fast food on the same level with the high class cuisines of those other countries?!"
That is simple. If you are talking about how healthy a food is, American fast food would be at the bottom of all that I listed. I am, however talking about taste alone. It is hard to argue that fancy European cuisine tastes better than an Original Hardees Thickburger.

[Cute Wolf]

French : Ortolan Bunting and Escargot.... looks tasty

[Fragony]

Belgium has the best food.

[Vladimir]

Belgium has the best food.

Belgium has the best of a small variety of food. What they do, they do well. The true wealth of Belgium is beer.

[Fragony]

eh how did this happen doublepost. If we are talking about cuisine Belgium pwns all. Best food in general, the Netherlands we have all the cuisines in the world. In my street alone I got two Italians, 1 greek, 2 tapas restaurants, one French, one Spanish, one Arab, and a few that are a bit of everything.