Assignment 9: Guatemala

Location: Central America on the southern border of Mexico Population: 16.5 million Capital: Guatemala City Geography: Mountainous, with small areas of desert, and having coastlines on both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans Language: Spanish Signature flavours: Tomato, corn, chilli pepper, cocoa The Menu Guatemalan cuisine is highly influenced by the country’s neighbour to the north,…

Assignment 7: Burkina Faso

Location: West Africa Population: 18.5 million Capital: Ouagadougou Geography: A landlocked nation of alternating plains and small mountains. Language: French and Mòoré Signature flavours: Beans, tomato, peanut The Menu Over this culinary journey, I am learning that there is something people are saying the world over: If in doubt, make a stew. Whether it’s goulash…

Assignment 6: Argentina

Location: Southern end of South America on the Atlantic Ocean Population: 43.8 million Capital: Buenos Aires Geography: Hugely varied, comprising mountainous regions, tropics, and plains Language: Spanish Signature flavours: Beef, corn, pumpkin, cheese, dulce de leche The Menu Eric wrapped up our South American double-header (I got Chile last week) with Argentinian cuisine, and opted…

Assignment 5: Chile

Location: South America on the Pacific Ocean Population: 18 million Capital: Santiago Geography: A long, narrow country encompassing mountain, desert, plain, and tropics Language: Spanish Signature flavours: Seafood, corn, potato, tomato, avocado The Meal Was it ever hard to plan my menu for Chile! I’m a huge seafood lover, and Chile abounds with fishy dishes….

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…

Assignment 4: Hungary

Location: Central Europe Population: 9.8 million Capital: Budapest Geography: A hilly landlocked country lying in the drainage basin of the Danube River Language: Hungarian Signature flavours: Paprika, bell pepper, tomato, potato, beef, pork, cheese The Menu Eric wanted to make goulash, since it showcases many of the signature flavours of Hungary. He has always been…

The Wooden Spoon Wanderer Project

I’ll start by saying that a few years ago, I didn’t even like cooking. It was tedious, difficult, and time-consuming. Then I took a job that involved preparing dinners everyday for a family of four. With practice, I learned how to chop, how to read a recipe, which flavours went with what, how to spice…