Nukesafe : I get the impression a lot of Americans expect lettuce with every meal, don't they ? (Have you read 'Feeding Frenzy ? )

I visited Moscow in the mid 1980s & actually thought our hotel food was OK : not a gourmet experience, but perfectly edible - which is the best I'd expect to this day if forced to take full board in any country. And the one I time ate out in a restaurant, it was pretty good.

In the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and gastropubs had not been invented, the only pub grub was crisps, nuts and picked eggs.
I haven't seen one for years.

In the US, I actually was offered ham and pineapple which consisted of tinned ham and sloppy tinned pineapple.
I also had a "salad" which was assorted vegetables in jelly, not aspic but what tasted like lemon jelly. Then there's green bean salad and biscuits with gravy. Shudder!

However, those horrors were pipped at the post by a chicken dish in a Little Chef. You literally couldn't get your teeth through it.
Little Chef were never gourmet, but the served as a cheap filling station and the breakfast was eatable.
No longer, I gave them another chance and had breakfast there about a year ago. It seemed to have been fried in very tired oil.
Put Little Chef up there with the Aberdeen Steakhouse.

Worst meal? Venice.

Since the US probably has the MOST food it stands to reason that it has some of the worst.

Hi MissPrism
>In the US, I actually was offered ham and pineapple which consisted of tinned ham and sloppy tinned pineapple.
I also had a "salad" which was assorted vegetables in jelly, not aspic but what tasted like lemon jelly.<

That's because you were a guest and they wanted to have something special.

Not the worst tasting, but the worst in terms of my conditioning and gross-out factor was satay made from dog meat sold by a street vendor in Medan, Sumatra. Kind of greasy and gristly but only after I ate it did I ask what kind of meat it was. That said, I think Indonesia has fabulous food. I agree with earlier poster who wrote that you can find good food in almost every country if you stray from the tourist path.

Russia.

I loved Russia but the food was awful!

Robespierre, I agree that there are some...unusual...choices to be had in Taiwan, but I had some of the BEST Chinese food there (I lived there for quite a few years so maybe I am biased). When the Nationalists fled/left/evacuated/verb of your choice the mainland for Taiwan, many of the top chefs left with them. Chinese cuisine subsequently thrived there.

Although I love the food in Hong Kong as well, I have to agree with some of the posters about China in general, although it has been quite a few years since I was there.

Who was the travel writer who said that the only time you see an endangered species in China is on the way to someone's mouth?!

Best advice -- if you are unsure what the meat you are eating is, don't ask! When in doubt, order the vegetarian option.

I'm sure nothing could be anywhere near as bad as a deep fried Mars bar in Scotland!! Agree about the Russian food. We went across Russia once on the Trans Siberian Railway and each day with our "meal" we were served a soft drink with a different fruit label on each bottle but only the label was different!

Russia and England. Disgusting.

I found some good Thai food in London, other than that, the local fare was as unremarkable as it gets in my experiences so far.

Jules

I haven't gotten over the grilled cheese and tomato sandwich I ordered in London in 2003. Bread and cheese were fine but the tomato turned out to be undiluted tomato paste that was at least 1/4" thick.

They should have specified on the menu that the tomato was tomato paste.

Agree with MelJ. Wasn't too impressed with any of the food in Ireland. Or Switzerland, for that matter (stayed in Grindelwald).. But the people and the scenery made up for it in both places. Would not hesitate to visit again.