On Tokyo, Barcelona, and to a lesser extend LA, SF, I feel more confident to say something.

It is greatly a question what you are looking for, and the author quite apparently appreciates the variety.

And I have to give it to them, I do not think that Tokyo or Barcelona are in the same league there.

That is not to disparage the quality of the food. I hold Tokyo in high regard, and would say it is the place I would most likely feel confident to go to a blindly chosen random Japanese restaurant. In Barcelona, you already have to filter out the tourist traps. (Hint: Paella & Sangria)

But in both places, it felt to me more dicey if would like some non-local food. It always seemed to be heavily adopted to the local preferences. But maybe my experience is outdated.

My armchair theory is, that both cities "suffer" from the fact of having a great culture of own cuisine. Not sure, if their customers do not appreciate the otherness, or the cooks are preemptively trying to "fit in".

As the author writes, LA is a melting pot, and I have eaten there great food from all over the place, especially when the menu was only half-translated. But then, it may be a prejudice, I am less confident that I can pick a random place, and receive the same quality as in Tokyo.

With that being said, NY + LA are my personal two favorite cities because these two cities combined cover such a large swath of the globe. No, the food is not as good as the country of origin, but it can get pretty close. And then you have such a variety. Just this past weekend (in LA) I had Jamaican food on Friday, Israeli food on Saturday, and Thai food on Sunday. And they were all pretty top notch.

I've heard Houston also has quite a diversity of food, I've heard Chicago is pretty good as well. To me, to be a best food city it is imperative to cover a broad section of different cuisines. By that metric, LA is world class and (for my taste and the kinds of food I like), unbeatable.

EDIT: One other thing I forgot to add. LA has a great spirit of innovation when it comes to food. You see people selling food out of their house, on the sidewalk, in parking lots just to get their idea out into the world without a lot of overhead. There's this feeling that if you try something new and capture people's attention you can make something big out of your food. And I think that's amazing (also it helps keep the costs relatively low for the consumer which is a bit of a bonus).

Similarly, "if you wake up at dawn in Los Angeles, and you have good time management skills, you can go for a walk on the beach, then go skiing in the afternoon, then fall asleep in the high desert at night" is probably true, but you'd better like the interior of your car, because that's where you'll be spending every other part of that day.

I think that’s a tough one to rank as not all great food cities are going to be great at all kinds of food. I’m not familiar with Tokyo for example, but I suspect the Mexican food scene there isn’t as impressive as in LA?

Proximity to fresh seafood and fresh produce as well as the strong immigrant communities mentioned in the blog do generally combine to make LA an excellent place to eat though.

Probably Melbourne, London and New York.

Have spent enough time in Los Angeles to know that it doesn’t reach the level of the above cities. It’s great at what it does - Mexican, Korean, Chinese, Salvadoran even, fusion - but the geography just doesn’t help it.

Barcelona is not a particularly great food City (sure, there are a few elite chefs but in general the food scene offers little of variety). Want good food in Spain, go to Basque Country.

Tokyo, San Sebastián, Lyon are cities which are insanely good at rocking their own cuisine which puts them in a different category of food cities. You might say ‘International’ v ‘Local’

International food cities -

Melbourne London New York

Sydney Los Angeles

(And probably Toronto Houston Vancouver but have never been)

The above cities are the great melting pots of the world

Something very special is happening in Melbourne’s food scene, especially in the last 10 years. Pick literally any Asian cuisine or food trend. you can name, even something super obscure, and you can find special examples.

Contrast that with lines around the block to get good, but not life changing Ramen (Orenchi, South Bay Area). Or a near-mandatory hour wait for great Ramen (Ramen Shop, Oakland). Or giving up and never going because bots took all the reservations* (State Bird Provisions, SF).

* this is not fully accurate. A friends bot once went haywire and got too many reservations. I was able to attend on a spare reservation.

LA also has the better access to a variety of fresh fruits and veggies because of its weather. That also influences the food scene.

Almost every sprig of lettuce you eat comes from California, we get the food that travels the least and access to the best foods that have to travel the most, I say this because my brother is a food importer at LAX. I get to eat mangos from Pakistan, starfruit from Indonesia, and steak from Japan with ton's of frequency.

My point is, we serve as a nexus for food delivery and with choice of ingredients the best foods are made.

Not just because of the time. But because there is hardly anywhere to live that isn't filled with cars AND walkable.

It's nice that the city has become a lot more walkable - but it's not that enjoyable walking alongside what is basically a highway - I.E. Hollywood, Sunset, and Santa Monica Blvd.

It's such a shame that the city with some of the best weather in the country, and that would otherwise be great for biking, is the city with one of the strongest car cultures in the world.

[0] It's like they're designed for drag racing so you can get up to 60 mph and still brake in time for the next light.

The "Hollywood" you are referencing is not geographic. Yes the film studios are in Los Angeles but hollywood celebrity culture is not a property of nor exclusive to Los Angeles the city.

And what about the homless population? Yes it is a problem that there are so many unhoused people. But is it really surprising that they would congregate in a city with such mild weather and access to social services? Do they not also have a right to live their lives?