Today was supposed to be our sixth meal, Antigua & Barbuda. But we got a very different taste of the Caribbean this weekend, thanks to Hurricane Tropical Storm Irene. We've postponed the meal to Wednesday. But this weekend was not without its culinary adventures. Check out the "hurricake" that Laura made with our friend Kirsty, who evacuated Greenpoint and stayed with us.
Thanks to my enterprising mother, I now have this wonderful inspiration and guide:
Published in 1964 by the United Nations Association of the United States of America, it features recipes from the member states of the time, which numbered 114. The foreword suggests that you use the recipes to aid a celebration of United Nations Day, which apparently was a thing that some people cared about back then. In a great nod to the culinary concerns of the time, the book stresses that each of the recipes were verified by at least one of America's most prominent corporate test kitchens. The recipes themselves look surprisingly adventurous relative to my conceptions of the average American's palate, although certain ingredient choices or omissions belie a lack of variety in American soupermarkets, such as soy sauce instead of fish sauce in a Thai soup. (But who am I to judge: the "Thai chicken wrap" I'm about to tuck into on this airplane is no further to authentic!)
Some of the countries listed that have changed names since 1964: Dahomey (now Benin), United Arab Republic (now Egypt — this was the one awkward year where the UAR no longer included Syria, but before it changed its name back), and of course a bunch of Soviet Socialist Republics:
And yes, there's a stereotyped line drawing for each and every country! I'm going to stay true to my mission of finding recipes as close to the source as possible, which means I probably won't cook many recipes directly from this book (and will save the $225 on The World Cookbook for Students, which is so comprehensive it could make me lazy!), but it's a fun inspiration nonetheless.
Yes, there's this blog. But for a physical manifestation of our culinary progress around the world, we've posted this scratch-off map in the kitchen. Here's the progress we've made so far. Will be fun to track progress!
The plan had been to do 192 countries plus Palestine. Well, there will be one more week of noshing, because South Sudan has just joined the UN as its 193rd member. The new nation has a long uphill climb, with some of the world's least-developed infrastructure (but they do have a website), several armed factions, and a dispute with Sudan about its new border through an oil-rich province. Welcome to the world, South Sudan. We'll try to figure out what you eat (especially in contrast to Sudan) in a few years.
Very excited to start this crazy project. Afghanistan is on July 10, Albania on July 17, and Algeria on July 24. Also, I whipped together a flag.
