Location: Eastern Europe Population: 38.4 million Capital: Warsaw Geography: A country of plains and mountains, with a coast on the Baltic Sea Language: Polish Signature flavours: Mushroom, potato, apple, beef, pork, chicken, fish, poppy seed, dill, dairy products The Menu Toronto is a great city to live in — it’s safe, contains a fair bit…
Tag: culinary
Assignment 77: Myanmar
Location: Southeast Asia Population: 53.6 million Capital: Napyidaw Geography: A country of lowlands and coastal mountains, with a tropical climate Language: Burmese Signature flavours: Seafood, rice, lemongrass, garlic, ginger, lime, pandan, coconut, chilli peppers, onion, shallot The Menu When we first began the Wooden Spoon Wanderer blog (way back in Bhutan…remember that?), we relied almost…
Assignment 76: Tibet
Location: Central Asia Population: 3.2 million Capital: Lhasa Geography: Extremely mountainous and receiving little precipitation, and host to the sources of several of Asia’s major rivers Language: Tibetan Signature flavours: Barley, beef, garlic, szechuan peppercorns (also called prickly ash), blue cheese, daikon, dumplings, scallions The Menu Eric and I fondly remember our trip to New…
Assignment 74: Botswana
Location: Southern Africa Population: 2.3 million Capital: Gaborone Geography: A flat landlocked nation, most of which lies in the Kalahari desert Language: English, Setswana Signature flavours: Sorghum, beef, corn, beans, nuts, marula, mopane (silk worms), melon The Menu It has become habit for us when a new assignment comes up to log on to the…
Assignment 73: Georgia
Location: Western Asia, between Russia and Turkey Population: 3.7 million Capital: Tblisi Geography: Mountainous, with areas of fertile valleys Language: Georgian, Abkhazian Signature flavours: Dairy, lamb, beef, tarragon, egg, nuts, shallot, plum The Menu Georgia’s culinary tradition tells the story of its geography: nestled at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. This…
Assignment 71: Saudi Arabia
Location: Middle East Population: 33 million Capital: Riyadh Geography: A desert nation with coastlines on the Persian Gulf and Red Sea Language: Arabic Signature flavours: Rice, cardamom, cinnamon, tomato, parsley, sesame, lamb The Menu I ordered a couple of cookbooks from the library for this assignment. One ended up being more focused on Lebanon, but…
Assignment 70: Algeria
Location: North Africa Population: 42.2 million Capital: Algiers Geography: A country of varied desert terrain, including mountainous, coastal, and grassy desert Language: Arabic, Berber Signature flavours: Couscous, mint, dried fruit, dairy, lamb, cayenne pepper The Menu Eric’s Algeria assignment followed right on the heels of my Morocco assignment. We learned through our respective research that…
Assignment 65: Ukraine
Location: Eastern Europe Population: 42.4 million Capital: Kiev Geography: Fertile plains Language: Ukrainian Signature flavours: Potato, beets, cabbage, mushrooms, pork, dairy products, fish, vinegar, berries, dill The Menu My research on Ukrainian food started and finished with The New Ukrainian Cookbook by Annette Ogrodnik Corona. I was inspired early on by her descriptions of the…
Assignment 64: Afghanistan
Location: Central Asia Population: 31.6 million Capital: Kabul Geography: A landlocked, mountainous country Language: Pashto Signature flavours: Rice, lamb, rosewater, cumin, dried fruits, nuts, yoghurt The Menu Eric went straight to the Toronto Public Library for cookbooks when he was assigned Afghanistan. A newly-released and well-reviewed Afghan cookbook was on order for the library and…
Assignment 63: Paraguay
Location: South America Population: 7.2 million Capital: AsunciĆ³n Geography: Tropical, with a landscape of plains and some low hills Language: Guarani, Spanish Signature flavours: Corn, cheese, onion, chicken, beef, anise, yerba mate The Menu As inadequate as my Spanish is, I did my research in Spanish for this assignment. We are quickly learning that when…
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