This is broadly true as well as being funny! A definitive test is to see which European countries export their cuisines in Restaurants. You find Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Greek restaurants all around the world. You won’t find an English or a German one anywhere! You can eat well in Amsterdam, but it will be Indonesian not Dutch cuisine.
There are distinctive dishes above the line – The herrings in The Netherlands and Scandinavia for example. And you can eat well in Michelin starred restaurants in Hamburg or Copenhagen. But the cuisine will be international not local.
The division applies to beverages as well. The orange countries produce and drink wine, the green beer and spirits. Wine accompanies good food – beer a pretzel or a bowl of peanuts.
The other difference is choice. There are twenty or more distinctive Italian cuisines. Spain has wide range of regional variations as of course does France. In Britain the food as well as being undistinguished is ubiquitous- the fish and chips is the same everywhere.
Bon Appétit !
Paddy’s Blogs in a crazy world 