January 14, 2025, 6:27 am | Read time: 4 minutes
The “Taste Atlas” food platform is an online culinary travel guide, so to speak. Users can find information and recommendations on traditional dishes and authentic restaurants, among other things, and can also rate food and drink around the world themselves. This results in a large database, from which “Taste Atlas” regularly identifies the most popular cuisines. This year’s ranking of the countries with the best food in the world saw a relatively surprising change at the top.
TRAVELBOOK recently reported on the most unpopular cheeses in Europe, published by “Taste Atlas”. This new ranking will now focus on the most popular dishes—and the countries where they are found in particularly high numbers. The values determined are based on the evaluation of more than 477,000 checked user ratings; around 15,000 foods and dishes were put to the vote. The highest average scores were not achieved by Italy, as you might have expected, but by another country also known for its Mediterranean cuisine.
Overview
According To Taste Atlas, the World’s Best Food Can Be Found In…
… Greece. The local cuisine earned an impressive average score of 4.6 points from ‘Taste Atlas’ users, largely thanks to the array of natural products incorporated into its dishes. According to the ratings, you should definitely try fystiki aeginas (Aegina pistachios), which are a popular snack when roasted and salted, as well as in their natural state. Kalamata olives from the region of the same name are also mentioned, as are the intense-tasting oranges of the Portokalia Maleme Chanion Kritis variety (= “oranges from Maleme, Chania, Crete”). As every year, Fava Santorinis also received good ratings. These are flat-shelled peas grown on the volcanic soils of Santorini and other Cyclades islands. They are often served as puree.
Travelers looking to bring a slice of Greece back home will find the list of delicatessen producers from Taste Atlas particularly intriguing. The portal has listed these for all placements. The website also provides recommendations for restaurants in the ranked countries, where you can enjoy excellent authentic cuisine.
Italy Slips One Position From 1st Place Last Year
Italy, proudly standing in 2nd place with an average rating of 4.59, has every reason to boast its culinary prowess. There are good reasons why countless people associate the thought of the country directly with culinary delights.
Of the must-try dishes in Italy, the pizza Napoletana, the typical Neapolitan pizza with its characteristic airy crust, received the very best ratings. Even though some people think that tomato (sauce) doesn’t really belong on pizza, it is all the more prominent in the list of “must-try” dishes: Both the San Marzano tomato from near Naples and the Pachino tomato from Sicily are highly praised by users. The famous hard cheese Parmigiano Reggiano is also recommended, and apparently sweet-toothed people have also voted, as Gianduja—a creamy hazelnut chocolate—is also listed.
Surprising 3rd Place: Mexico
Mexico has secured its spot on the podium among the countries with the world’s best food. TRAVELBOOK would have expected to see Japan here, which only just missed out on the top spot in last year’s ranking. This year, however, Japanese cuisine only took 9th place in the ranking.
But let’s give credit where it’s due. According to the ratings, Mexico owes its laudable position to the invention of the quesabirria, a hearty cross between a taco and a quesadilla with meat. Camarones enchipotlados (prawns in a spicy chipotle sauce) and the spicy pork dish chilorio also scored particularly well with many reviewers. But if you fancy something sweet, Mexico is obviously also the right place for you. This unique distinction is due to the wild vanilla that grows in the Chinantla region—as Taste Atlas reports, this is true of no other place in the world. Its flavor is often described as complex and intense, with earthy and woody notes, and perfect for a wide variety of desserts.
Germany’s Cuisine Has Grown in Popularity
Last year saw Germany ranked 32nd out of 100 in the list of countries with the best food globally. This year, it is not quite in the top 20, but still in a respectable 23rd place. The country’s culinary delights include Christmas goose, Düsseldorfer Mostert (a spicy, malty-brownish mustard), the pub classic brisket, and the Hamburg specialty Franzbrötchen.
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An Overview of the 20 Countries With the Best Food in the World
For countries with identical average scores, subtle differences in individual rating categories such as “must-try” dishes, top delicatessen producers, and iconic traditional restaurants determined their overall rankings. Here is an overview of the top 20 countries with the best food in the world:
- 1. Greece (4.60)
- 2. Italy (4.59)
- 3. Mexico (4.52)
- 4. Spain (4.50)
- 5. Portugal (4.50)
- 6. Turkey (4.50)
- 7. Indonesia (4.48)
- 8. France (4.48)
- 9. Japan (4.70)
- 10. China (4.45)
- 11. Poland (4.42)
- 12. India (4.42)
- 13. USA (4.42)
- 14 Peru (4.40)
- 15. Serbia (4.40)
- 16. Brazil (4.39)
- 17. Croatia (4.36)
- 18. Colombia (4.34)
- 19. Vietnam (4.34)
- 20. Hungary (4.33)