Location: Southern Europe on the Adriatic Sea Population: 4.2 million Capital: Zagreb Geography: A mix of mountain, plain, river valley, and seashore Language: Croatian Signature flavours: Seafood, tomato, green peppercorn, pork, orange, fig The Menu Croatia is divided into four regions, and Eric wanted to represent them all in his Croatia assignment. The result was…
Assignment 35: Liechtenstein
Location: Western Europe Population: 38,000 Capital: Vaduz Geography: About half the country is in the Alps, and the other half is in the valley of the Rhine River Language: German Signature flavours: Milk products, pork, potatoes, asparagus, apples The Menu I was excited to have my first Western Europe assignment, and was pleased to find…
Assignment 34: Trinidad & Tobago
Location: The southern Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela Population: 1.35 million Capital: Port of Spain Geography: Two islands with a mix of mountains and plains Language: English Signature flavours: Corn, rice, scotch bonnet peppers, turmeric, lentils, chickpeas, chicken, seafood The Menu I don’t think our house had ever smelled as good as it did…
Assignment 33: Lesotho
Location: Southern Africa, contained within South Africa Population: 2.2 million Capital: Maseru Geography: A high-lying, mountainous country with a relatively cool climate Language: Sesotho, English Signature flavours: Root vegetables, greens, corn, beans The Menu I am not exaggerating when I say I could only find a handful of recipes from Lesotho. I did find a…
Assignment 32: Belize
Location: Central America Population: 388,000 Capital: Belmopan Geography: Mostly forested coastal plains and swampland, with low mountains in the south Language: English Signature flavours: Allspice, achiote, chicken, corn, seafood, coconut, rice, cassava The Menu Eric discovered that Belize has four distinct groups of people (Maya, Kriol, Garinagu, and Mestizos), and set about planning a menu…
Little Green Garden
The blog has just been reactivated after a short pause, during which I escaped to a friend’s farm on Ontario’s spectacular Bruce Peninsula. The Peninsula is itself just waking up after a long winter, and the trees are still bare. The fields were green, though, and my eyes enjoyed that much-missed colour that I crave…
Assignment 31: Liberia
Location: West Africa Population: 4.5 million Capital: Monrovia Geography: Plains and low mountains with some rainforest covering Language: Liberian English Signature flavours: Peanut, thyme, cabbage, rice, root vegetables, chicken, shrimp The Menu Liberian recipes were a little hard to come by, until I stumbled upon a large list of dishes on a website called Liberian…
This Stop, Afghanistan; Next Stop, Zimbabwe: Ingredient Hunting in Toronto
We split our time pretty evenly between eating out on the town, eating ordinary stay-in meals (salad, veggie dogs, fish and rice, frozen curries), and tackling more ambitious recipes in our own kitchen. If we cooked every day like we do for Wooden Spoon Wanderer (WSW), we’d be exhausted; if we ate out every night,…
Assignment 30: Palestine
Location: Middle East Population: 4.5 million Capital: Jerusalem/Ramallah Geography: A flat or rolling-dune desert with low mountains in the West Bank region Language: Arabic Signature flavours: Sumac, lamb, sesame, pita bread, thyme, mint, eggplant The Menu We try to keep WSW a place about food, the joy of eating together, our discovery of unfamiliar flavours…
Assignment 29: Egypt
Location: North Africa Population: 96.8 million Capital: Cairo Geography: Sandy desert except around the Nile Valley and Delta areas Language: Arabic Signature flavours: Pita bread, legumes, garlic, parsley, lemon, cheese The Menu I picked up a fantastic cookbook at a used bookstore a few weeks ago that I finally got to crack open for this…
Wooden Spoon Wanderer 