Twenty Nine Down

http://reflectionsfromthebellcurve.blogspot.com/2011/03/world-traveling-via-food-to-be.html

My wife and I are now two years into the above project and so far our only challenge has been making reasonable distinctions between some of the cuisines of neighboring countries.

As an example, our most recent in home visit (vs. restaurant journey) took us to Laos and Cambodia. It ended up a two-for-one deal since most websites and cookbooks make little distinction between the cuisine of countries in the region commonly called Indochina. No matter, we still had fun visiting both at once despite how labor intensive the meal preparation was. This latest home visit means we've now cooked from countries on four continents. Our complete tally has taken us to all six inhabited continents.

We've also added a ritual for all in home visits. Out comes the 2012 almanac and while eating we have a discussion about the country to learn a bit. Though she knows I'm a geography geek, my wife has drawn the line at bringing the almanac on our restaurant journeys.

Finally, I was pleased when an astute reader of my blog asked what our "cutoff" would be - great question. We decided no country that came into existence after the year the project began (2011) will be required. So, the cuisine of South Sudan will be our cutoff, although not necessarily the last country we visit. Your suggestions continue to be welcome and thanks for all the interest.