A
national dish is a
dish,
food or a
drink that represents a particular
country, nation or region. It is usually something that is naturally made or popular in that country.
The concept is highly informal and vague, and in many, if not most cases the relationship between a given territory or people and certain typical foods is ambiguous. Typical dishes can vary from region to region, and the use of the term "national dish" does not always imply the existence of a "nation" in any legal sense; e.g. rösti is the national dish in German-speaking Switzerland and fondue is in French-speaking Switzerland, although the political integrity of the Swiss state is undisputed.
Similarly, countries can share a national dish; e.g., traditional food in Austria, the German state of Bavaria, and the Czech Republic is similar; whereas bigos, borscht, and pierogi are popular in several Central and East European countries and generally associated with one or more of them. Beverages can also be assigned the status of a national "dish", such as beer in Germany, Belgium or the Czech Republic, wine in France or Spain, vodka in Poland, Finland, Russia & Sweden. Although in recent years beer has picked up popularity in Poland as a social beverage of choice.
National dishes also function as stereotypes. These can be either autostereotypes, describing a nation's self-image, or heterostereotypes associated with a nation in the outside world, or both. While most "national dish" stereotypes are positive to neutral, they can also acquire the status of ethnic slurs.
