Sunday 13 November 2011

World Food: On a Mission

image from shutterstock.com


This blog is now officially on a mission!

I'm determined to cook and blog foods from countries all around the world - particularly those countries who don't get a lot of media coverage for their food. We've all read a million cookbooks on Indian Food and seen a million pseudo celebrities doing food tours of Italy, but what about a documentary on food from Botswana? What about trying some recipes from Tahiti or Cambodia? Therefore I'm asking you, as readers, to suggest countries for me to tackle. Each month I will pick a new country and make sure my blog posts include some recipes inspired by that country (possibly not authentic cuisine - as we will have to make it vegan!), and of course I will definitely screen them to make sure that only the tastiest ones get blogged! Don't worry I'll also keep blogging all the other tasty every-day recipes!

So please help me out by commenting below and suggesting some interesting countries which you think the cuisine of doesn't get enough attention!

Can't wait to hear from you!
~ K-bobo

UPDATE (January 2012) - 
Thanks for all your wonderful suggestions guys! I now have a big list of countries, one for every month of 2012! But please keep the suggestions coming as I love to hear what you guys want and adding it to the list! A-dizzletron and I are having so much fun exploring these cuisines that we previously knew nothing about and I hope that you are enjoying reading them to! We have just finished our last entry for January - Croatia Month, which was requested by an anonymous commenter and we would firstly like to thank him/her/it for such a great suggestion - it was delicious! I'd also like to thank all the fantastic people who helped us out by providing their knowledge of Croatian food. If you'd like to check out the recipes we came up with, here are the links for the 9 Croatian dishes we posted up this month:

Poppy Seed and Almond Kolache
Yumuşacık Poğaça (Fluffy savoury buns filled with creamy potato and pickles - one of my favourites from the month)
Paprenjaci (Cracked Pepper Biscuits)
Posna Sarma (Rice filled cabbage rolls)
Makovnjaca (Poppy Seed Strudel)
Croatian Pizza (with "kulen sausages" and vegan feta cheese!)
Kupus Na Zagorski & Blitva (2 delicious vegie side dishes)
Šljivovec (AMAZING plum pie)

It's quite a list of recipes! All of them were delicious (of course, otherwise we wouldn't have posted them!) but I would have to pick my top 4 as the Yumuşacık Poğaça, Paprenjaci, Croatian Pizza and the Šljivovec. But then the Posna Sarma and Makovnjaca were pretty special too... you see I just can't pick! So you'll have to give them all a try!

So - we are leaving Croatia behind (for now!) and moving on to our February featured country which was requested by Sophie - CHAD! Yes, in February we will be delving into the Northern African landlocked country of Chad (something tells me there will be less sea food then there was for Croatia!). We can't wait to share what we find with you and I hope that if you know lots about food from Chad then you will contact us and let us know! 

Yours deliciously,
~K-bobo


UPDATE (February 2012) -
February has been a truly delicious month!! Special thanks to reader Sophie for suggesting such a great country for us to feature - Chad! I didn't know a single thing about Chadian food before I started this quest for Chadian recipes and now I feel a whole lot wiser on the subject! It was a much bigger challenge than Croatia Month was because of the general lack of recipes from Chad out there (possibly something to do with the fact that they are one of the poorest countries in the world) and because I have absolutely no contacts with anybody who has been to Chad (not surprisingly really). However, here are the 7 recipes we managed to find and post up:

Chadian Breakfast Bouille (Rice and peanut porridge)
Millet Balls with 3 dipping sauces (Chadian Peanut Sauce, Saka Saka Sauce and Harissa Lime Sauce)
Chadian Irio (Mashed beans, potatoes and vegetables)
African Loz (Almond and Pistachio Bites of Amazingness)
Kachumbari  (Light and delicious African salad)
Maharagwe (Kidney beans in a lightly spiced coconut sauce)

We did also have two other dishes that we made which didn't end up posting, one because it just wasn't really up to standard and the other because it was absolutely delicious but the photographs didn't turn out very well so I will have to make it again and post it later! It was a thoroughly delicious month but I have to say that my favourite was definitely the African Loz - those little bites of almond, pistachio and orange blossom water were out of this world!! They also went down an absolute hit at out Chadian dinner party and we had guests fighting over the last one (we ended up having to cut it into six pieces so we could all have a bit!!). My other favourites, however, were definitely the Chadian Sweet Potato Fritters and the gorgeous Peanut Sauce which I made to go with my millet balls! The Maharagwe was also a huge hit with dinner guests!

So! Onward with the next theme! I'm excited to announce that March will be Bosnian Food Month, a country suggested in the comments below by an anonymous reader. Firstly thank you to him/her/it/them for your great suggestion! To start the month off I have posted my first recipe: Bosnian Zeljanica (Vegan Spinach and Cheese pie). I also have to announce that this month I will be doing it solo, as A-dizzle has decided to move on to bigger and better things (and the best of luck to her!) - so bear with me while I adjust to this blog being a one man show!

Yours hungrily,
~K-bobo


UPDATE (AUGUST 2012)
I have stopped adding the recipe links in this post, as it just would have gotten too long! Instead I have made a recipe index which you can check out by clicking here or by going to the World Food Challenge Recipes link at the top of the page.

~K-bobo

46 comments:

  1. Africa plz. Even though that's a continent... Not a country.

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  2. Hmm, you may have to be a little bit more specific Sophie, any particular African country? You could always do a random-pointy-map-type thing :)

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  3. I think Croatia would be interesting :)

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    1. Thanks for your suggestion! Croatia Month was be featured January 2012! See the links above to check out the amazing food!

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  4. Cambodia please! :D It was in the description, I know, but what if nobody ever said it just because of that! :)

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    1. Thanks for the suggestion MishLich! I am so glad you suggested it, it would have been sad if nobody had just because it was written in the description! Cambodian food will be featured all of June 2012 - so keep your eyes out for it!

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  5. Oh I wanted Italy! How about Germany? Or still too mainstream?

    ...Sweden?

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    1. Thanks for your suggestions Zane! Sweden will be featured in August 2012 and Germany will be featured in October, or should I say Oktober? :)

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  6. Replies
    1. Thanks for your suggestion! Bosnian Food will be featured all of March 2012 so keep your eyes on the blog to see what I put up!

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  7. Aw man, I thought I commented back on this. I did the random pointy map thingy and selected Chad.
    Though Croatia sounds interesting, I have absolutely no idea what they even eat over there? What's their national dish? SO MANY QUESTIONS!

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    1. Thanks for the suggestion Sophie. We will be featuring Chadian food all of February 2012 - so keep your eye out for the recipes!

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  8. I'd love to see some Afghanistan cuisine! I don't really know what they eat there.

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    1. Thanks for your suggestion, I'm excited to find out about Afghan food as well! Afghanistan will be featured September 2012

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  9. Northeastern Chinese cuisine (Dongbei cuisine), that's were I'm currently living and vegan cooking drives me nuts there... ^^
    Whatever you do, love the idea anyways!

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  10. Hi Jezebel, I've spent time living in China so that one shouldn't be too hard for me :) Although I was living in the south so 东北菜 isn't my speciality! I'll add it to the list of countries that have been suggested to us though.

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  11. That's terrific! Looking forward to discovering what you can concoct in your kitchen...
    I know the 2 kinds of cuisine are really different but I assume some of the techniques are the same, aren't they (like how to use some sauces, how to cook with a wok and a hot plate and so on)?
    All of this is driving me crazy but I'm not a genius when it comes to cooking, I'm afraid...
    Would you know how to make yi pin dofu, for instance?

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  12. Indonesia pleas!

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    1. Great suggestion, thanks! Indonesian dishes was featured in November 2012 - you can check out all the recipes by clicking the World Food Challenge Recipes link at the top of the page!

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  13. Norway or Sweden please!

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  14. How about Vanuatu? Or Samoa or Costa Rica...

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    1. Thanks fish :) Great suggestions. I've put both Costa Rica and Samoa on the list - Costa Rica was featured in February 2013 and Samoa in March 2013. Hope you enjoyed all the recipes!

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    2. Thanks! It's been awesome:)

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  15. What about Sweden? :D Swedish meatballs is a must, and if you could "veganize" them that would be so awesome!

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    1. What a fabulous coincidence! Sweden has been quite a popular suggestion, so I'll be featuring Sweden in August. I'll do my best on the Swedish meatballs :)

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    2. Swedish Meatballs here:
      http://gormandizewithus.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/vegan-swedish-meatballs.html

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  16. The Swedish vegan meatballs were amazing!!

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  17. Tibet! Or Nepal ... that part 'o the world.

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    1. Thanks Dave - I'm featuring Nepalese Cuisine October 2013!

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  18. I'd like to suggest Poland! I grew up there, and people always get such blank expressions when I mention veganism... But if you look around, there's plenty plant-based dishes to choose from (with slight modifications, of course): bigos, pierogi, placek, various breads... Yum!!

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    1. Thanks Kasia, I'm so, so glad you suggested Poland - because I LOVE Polish food! The things that I have tried have been fantastic, so I'll look forward to learning more about it! I have put it on the list, although there are quite a few countries ahead of it - keep your eye out!

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  19. Brasil! This blog would be good for ideas: chubbyvegan.net

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  20. Replies
    1. Thanks for the great suggestion, it'll be nice to do another African country! I've put Tunisia down for November 2013, so keep your eye on the blog for recipes :)

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  21. Maybe Russia? Or Seychelles - one of the many countries I sadly only really know from looking at postage stamps... Food's not a bad way to learn:)

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    1. Food is a great way to learn about other countries! :)

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  22. Please do Argentina! you could totally veganize locro and empanadas...

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  23. Thanks Lee! I love Polish food, and I'll be featuring Poland in a couple of months - I'm working my way through a big list of requests so keep your eyes out for it!

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  24. I LOOOOVE YOUR BLOG! Thank you so much for all of your wonderful recipes. I've just stumbled across your blog while looking for vegan recipes. Are all of the recipes you post vegan? I know you stated you primarily eat a vegan diet but you're not actually vegan. Well anyways, thanks again and I can't wait for more recipes!

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    1. Thanks Melody, so glad you enjoy it! Yes, every recipe on this blog is vegan - so feast away!

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  25. Heh, yet another suggestion from me - South Africa!

    Or Lebanon. Or both:)

    I hate to think how long your list of countries to cook from is by now, though.:) I hope your holiday is wonderful!

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    1. South Africa would be interesting, I'll add it to the list. Lebanon would be amazing too, though I might have to get in touch with some Lebanese friends of mine to give me advice and maybe help me cook! So I'll have to schedule it for when my Lebanese friend is on holidays from uni ;)

      Yes, I have a super long list of countries now, but it's exciting because I can't wait to see what dishes I find from each country!! Thanks for so many great suggestions!

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  26. Just discovered your fascinating blog while hunting for vegetarian Indonesian recipes…glad I did. We have been doing International Cuisine Weeks this year, which has been a great way to reignite my passion for cooking. But you are seriously ahead of me here! Half our family is vegetarian, the other half likes a little beef here and there, which I am trying to provide less and less of (without them noticing…ahem…).

    Looking forward to trying out some of your recipes.

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  27. Hey :) I love what you are doing very much!
    As Russian I should suggest Russia - it is very sad for me that people still know hardly more than stereotypes about my country. And of cause we don't drink vodka, neither eat caviar ot blini every day, but 70% of our cuisine is vegetarian dishes. And I would love to help you in case you need it :)
    Another amazing place is Spain: apart from wrong way of cooking paella people know very few I guess :)

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    1. Thanks tantoverde, I've added Russia to the list and will be doing it in a couple of months time - any suggestions as to what to cook?

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