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 or the Czech Republic, wine in France, vodka in Poland and Russia.


However, more for fun than anything else, I decided to compile an informal list of national dishes. I’ll go alphabetically and try to build the list to cover every country eventually…..or get bored in the meantime.