Location: Southern Europe Population: 3.3 million Capital: Sarajevo Geography: Mostly mountainous with a very small Adriatic coastline in the south Language: Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian Signature flavours: Beef, pork, dairy, potato, onion, apple, fermented foods The Menu This assignment followed Eric’s culinary journey to Moldova, and my expectations were confirmed when I saw that there was…
Assignment 90: Moldova
Location: Eastern Europe Population: 2.6 million Capital: Chisinau Geography: A landlocked country of plains bordered by two rivers Language: Romanian Signature flavours: Beef, pork, dairy, eggs, bell peppers, dill, potato The Menu Eric has made several forays into Eastern Europe for this blog, but it had been a while since his last adventure into the…
Assignment 89: Cameroon
Location: Central Africa Population: 26.5 million Capital: Yaoundé Geography: A varied landscape of coastal regions, mountains, savannah, desert, and rainforest Language: English, French Signature flavours: Seafood, chicken, legumes, root vegetables, plantain, corn The Menu I would be lying if I said the prep for this assignment was anything other than chaos. Despite careful planning (I…
Assignment 88: British Caribbean
Location: The Caribbean Population: 158,000 Capital: Various Geography: Various tropical islands Language: English Signature flavours: Seafood, corn, coconut, allspice, thyme, chicken, greens, rice, chilli peppers The Menu When we first conceived the Wooden Spoon Wanderer blog, one of our first tasks was to create a list, as exhaustive as possible, of places we wanted to…
Assignment 87: Malta
Location: Southern Europe Population: 515,000 Capital: Valletta Geography: An archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea Language: Maltese, English Signature flavours: Seafood, almond, citrus, marjoram, garlic, olives, dairy The Menu Malta sits at the crossroads of Italian, Middle Eastern, and North African cuisines, and as such has a fantastically diverse flavour profile that I was eager to…
Assignment 86: Marshall Islands
Location: Oceania Population: 58,000 Capital: Majuro Geography: Over 1100 volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean Language: Marshallese, English Signature flavours: Coconut, seafood, breadfruit, pandan, papaya, rice, chicken The Menu Eric went into this assignment expecting to struggle to find recipes, but was surprised to find enough resources to put together a menu. The Marshall Islands…
Assignment 85: St Kitts and Nevis
Location: The Caribbean Population: 52,400 Capital: Basseterre Geography: Two main islands with central rainforest-covered mountainous terrain and coastal flats nearer the coast Language: English Signature flavours: Coconut, plantain, seafood, pork, breadfruit, rice, tomato, peppers The Menu It’s been over 25 assignments since we last visited the Caribbean, so I was looking forward to the fish…
Assignment 84: Brunei
Location: South Asia Population: 459, 500 Capital: Bandar Seri Begawan Geography: Two disconnected pieces of land on the island of Borneo, mostly covered with tropical rainforest Language: Malay Signature flavours: Seafood, shrimp paste, chilli peppers, coconut, garlic, tamarind, ambulung, pandan The Menu Sayur Lodeh: A vegetable and shrimp curry with cabbage, carrot, and green beans,…
Assignment 83: Niger
Location: West Africa Population: 22.4 million Capital: Niamey Geography: A landlocked desert nation with a small area of savannah Language: French Signature flavours: Peanut, beef, mutton, tomato, corn, millet, leafy greens, baobab The Menu I had a little trouble finding recipes at first, in part because Nigerian cuisine is much better documented on the internet…
Assignment 82: Tanzania
Location: East Africa Population: 56.3 million Capital: Dodoma Geography: A mix of mountains, plains, and warm coastal regions, including several offshore islands Language: Swahili, English, Arabic Signature flavours: Beef, coconut, potato, seafood, cumin, cardamom, eggs, banana The Menu It was Eric’s first time undertaking an assignment since January. A combination of procrastination on my part…