The culinary Maginot line of Europe

So I saw a Rick Stein show on SBS Food last night, from 2015 I think, in which he made a trip into Germany with the stated intention of showing that their national cuisine was interesting and didn't deserve the low regard in which most of his English friends seem to hold it.

Well, it was pleasant watching as travelogue (as his shows always are - there is not a more likeable chef on television), but it completely failed in his stated aim of improving the image of German food.

The meals he highlighted were (with one exception) your usual stodgy, meat heavy examples of simple cooking with little flair.  The near liquefied  corned beef turned into gloop with potato and butter looked particularly unappealing.   (Apparently, it's a famous dish, but I hadn't heard of it before.  And I have nothing against corned beef, but not done like that.)

Yes, he highlighted their fondness for white asparagus with hollandaise, but that's hardly interesting cooking per se.   One young cook showed his herring salad dish which featured mango - so it was like an international fusion more than anything traditionally German.

And this brings me back to my strong opinion that in Europe there is something like a culinary Maginot line between the nations with interesting cuisine and those with bland, uninteresting or otherwise dubious cuisine.    Sure, even those on the Eastern dark side of the line might do one or two things well - everyone likes a good bratwurst, for example - but overall, they are failures at interesting flavours and interesting food histories.

Did I do a map like this once before?  I think I might have, but perhaps I didn't include Morocco.   Leaving out Greece may be considered controversial by some, but as I have explained before, it's recipes are too simple to be too interesting, although if last night's show is any guide, it ranks better than Germany: