Location: Central America Population: 6.3 million Capital: San Salvador Geography: A tropical, mountainous nation with significant geothermal activity Language: Spanish Signature flavours: Corn, cheese, tomato, chicken, beans, chilli peppers, red onion, pumpkin The Menu Eric had eaten Salvadorian food once before, when he lived in Texas, where there is a large Salvadorian population. Flavours familiar…
Assignment 61: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Location: Central Africa Population: 78.7 million Capital: Kinshasa Geography: An equatorial country covered in jungle and savannah Language: French Signature flavours: Beans, roots vegetables, leafy greens, peanuts The Menu This was the first assignment after a holiday hiatus that gave Eric and I some much-needed rest. I have to say that I enjoyed taking a…
Assignment 60: Italy
Location: Southern Europe Population: 60.5 million Capital: Rome Geography: A largely mountainous country extending into the Mediterranean Sea Language: Italian Signature flavours: Bread and pasta, tomato, garlic, dairy products, coffee, basil, oregano, beef, olives and olive oil The Menu At the outset of the Wooden Spoon Wanderer project, Eric and I agreed that we should…
Assignment 59: St Vincent and the Grenadines
Location: The Caribbean Population: 109,600 Capital: Kingstown Geography: A collection of 32 islands, the largest of which is St Vincent Language: English Signature flavours: Breadfruit, coconut, seafood, root vegetables The Menu St Vincent cuisine was not easy to research, and there was a definite dearth of resources. I didn’t get anywhere in my quest for…
Assignment 58: Kenya
Location: East Africa Population: 49.1 million Capital: Nairobi Geography: A mix of savannah, desert, and fertile highland Language: Swahili, English Signature flavours: Corn, ginger, leafy greens, beans, chicken, potato The Menu When Eric got his Kenya assignment, he wondered how similar he would find it to  Zimbabwe, another East African country from which he cooked…
Assignment 57: Cabo Verde
Location: Off the coast of West Africa Population: 539,600 Capital: Praia Geography: An volcanic archipelago of ten islands and eight islets. Language: Portuguese Signature flavours: Corn, pork, seafood, beans, sweet potato, tropical fruits The Menu Eric and I had just gotten back from a trip to Portugal and the Portuguese islands of the Azores when…
Assignment 56: Guyana
Location: South America Population: 773,000 Capital: Georgetown Geography: A densely forested country with areas of savannah, mountains, and coastal plain Language: English Signature flavours: Cassava, garlic, wiri wiri pepper, curry, vanilla, cinnamon, demerara sugar, beef The Menu Eric’s main resource was a blog called Alica’s Pepperpot. He built his menu around her recipes as well…
The Wooden Spoon Wanderer Showcase Dinner
On the Wednesday night before the Showcase, Eric and I stayed up late, sitting side by side, carefully cutting the pith off orange peels to make narancini, candied orange peels in the Croatian style. We talked as we did so, about the work itself, about the relationship that comes from a shared task, about the…
Assignment 55: Singapore
Location: Southern tip of the Malay Peninsula Population: 5.6 million Capital: Singapore Geography: A highly developed island city state Language: English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil Signature flavours: Seafood, kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), garlic, chillies, anise, noodles The Menu Recipes abound for Singaporean cuisine, so my challenge for this assignment was choosing between them all. Singaporean…
Assignment 54: Seychelles
Location: The Indian Ocean, off the east coast of Africa Population: 94,000 Capital: Victoria Geography: An archipelago of 115 islands Language: French, English, Seychellois Creole Signature flavours: Seafood, coconut, ginger, cinnamon, hot peppers, garlic, curry The Menu Seychelles was largely uninhabited, save for the odd passerby, until the 18th century, so the archipelago nation has…
