People—readers, friends, random strangers on the street—are always asking us for recommendations on where to eat. Up until recently, the requests were largely for seafood or burger places. Thanks to a growing international population, coupled with our city’s rich Asian history, we’ve finally reached the point of culinary diversity at which the questions are much more encompassing. Where do we go for Chinese food? Mediterranean food? Sorry, but you’ll have to be more specific. Where does one go for Ethiopian kitfo? Japanese strawberry shortcake? Polish pierogi? Thai khao soi? Those are questions we now can enthusiastically answer. Clearly, a whole country’s worth of cuisine can’t be boiled down to a single dish, any more than we can cover a world’s worth of food in 16 pages, so we’ve made some judgment calls and in doing so, had to overlook a few countries (sorry, western Europe). But we’ve pulled together some 50 recommended dishes from 35 countries, from restaurants located in a dozen neighborhoods in and around the Seattle area. So, you’ve got a pretty good place to start. There has perhaps never been a more important time to break bread—and cultural barriers—around the table. Itadakimasu! Bon appétit! You get the idea. 

Seattle’s 45 Best Global Dishes: Chinese

Seattle’s 45 Best Global Dishes: Asian

Seattle’s 45 Best Global Dishes: Middle Eastern

Seattle’s 45 Best Global Dishes: Latin American/Carribean

Seattle’s 45 Best Global Dishes: African

Seattle’s 45 Best Global Dishes: Desserts

Dumplings Around the World

Chicken and Rice and Everything Nice

The Great Hate Debate: Americanized Chinese Food

International Food Fests, Global Etiquette and More