Location: A large island off the east coast of Africa Population: 24.9 million Capital: Antananarivo Geography: A varied landscape of grassland, rainforest, desert, and rice paddies Language: Malagasy, French Signature flavours: Peanut, rice, vanilla, seafood, tomato, root vegetables and their leaves The Menu Eric found that meals in Madagascar often consist of rice and laoka…
Tag: eating
The Slippery Slope of Disordered Eating
For the past five months, I have been dealing with digestive issues that make me feel sick after most every meal. Often I wake up with nausea and cramping and it continues throughout the day, peaking after eating. In an effort to reduce my discomfort, I have chosen to eat less. I have also undertaken…
Assignment 22: Timor-Leste
Location: South Asia Population: 1.2 million Capital: Dili Geography: Mountainous and tropical Language: Tetum, Portuguese Signature flavours: Seafood, chicken, ginger, hot peppers, basil, lemongrass The Menu I got to cook back-to-back assignments since Eric hasn’t gathered all his ingredients yet for Kiribati. Still recovering from my 56-course Japanese meal on Saturday, I had no idea…
Assignment 21: Japan
Location: East Asia Population: 126.7 million Capital: Tokyo Geography: An archipelago of four main islands and almost 7000 others, with primarily mountainous, forested terrain. Language: Japanese Signature flavours: Rice, seaweed, seafood, soy The Menu Japanese food is beautiful, with a stunning composition of colours: green, white, red, black. Its aesthetic appeal can make it seem…
Assignment 20: Finland
Location: Northern Europe Population: 5.5 million Capital: Helsinki Geography: A low-lying country of lakes, fens, and coniferous forest. Language: Finnish Signature flavours: Salted and smoked fish, rye, potato, white pepper, mushrooms, butter, pork. The Menu Eric and I have been to Estonia and Norway and loved the food, so Eric was excited to have the…
8 Things I Don’t Think I Could Kitchen Without
Okay, I could kitchen without some of these things. I know this because I kitchened before I owned a slow cooker, and I will continue to kitchen after I drop it while moving it from the sink to the cupboard, breaking it into ten thousand pieces. But these are items that make kitchening extra enjoyable,…
Assignment 17: New Zealand
Location: Oceania Population: 4.8 million Capital: Wellington Geography: A widely varied landscape of forest, mountain, and plain. Language: English, Maori Signature flavours: Lamb, seafood, potato, coconut The Menu The first thing I thought of when I was assigned New Zealand (after Lord of the Rings) was meat pies. I looked around for quite a while…
Assignment 16: South Korea
Location: East Asia Population: 51.5 million Capital: Seoul Geography: Mostly mountainous, with some plains Language: Korean Signature flavours: Sesame, cabbage, rice, pork, beef, scallion, egg, seaweed, hot pepper The Menu Five days ahead of South Korea night, Eric got started on kimchi, a signature Korean dish of fermented cabbage with garlic and spices. Each night…
Assignment 15: Kosovo
Location: Eastern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula Population: 1.9 million Capital: Pristina Geography: A landlocked country of mountains and plains Language: Albanian, Serbian Signature flavours: Cabbage, meat, parsley, garlic, onion The Menu One thing I like about the Wooden Spoon Wanderer project is that it expands my thinking about places that might have previously been…
The List
When Eric and I gave ourselves our first assignments — using an online random country/territory generator — I received British Antarctic Territory. At that point, we realized we needed to tweak our system. We didn’t want to use a straight list of official countries. First of all, there is some discrepancy as to what constitutes…
Wooden Spoon Wanderer 