Argentina

We put off Argentina for months because of the recipe. Not because it was particularly difficult, but because the recipe we found was for several people and we weren’t sure we wanted to subject friends to our experiment. Finally we decided that we had to do it or we’d never move onto to the cuisine of Armenia.

Antigua and Barbuda: Fungee and Pepperpot

As I sit here typing, it looks to be 84° F for the next week in Antigua and Barbuda. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? So where on earth are they, and why are they even a nation?

Angola: Muamba de Galinha

Angola, another of those African countries that make you wonder if there’s any hope for Africa. It was torn by bitter civil war from 1975 to 2002 (can you imagine living in a country at war for 17 years? And no, living in America in 2018 as it enters its 17th year in Afghanistan doesn’t count – we are talking internal, civil war) and is still one of the lowest rated African nations in terms of governance. Being the second largest petroleum and diamond producer in sub-Saharan Africe just means there are riches for the plundering, with no incentive to develop its human resources. Ah, the curse of rich natural resources.

Andorra: Trinxat

Andorra is a little pimple of a country tucked in the Pyrenees between France and Spain, so you’d think it might share some exquisite cuisine with France or Spain, or even share in the Basque or Catalan cuisine. However, Trinxat, a potato and cabbage pancake, seems to be the closest thing to a national dish that we could find.

Algeria: Couscous with Vegetables

To prepare ourselves for Algeria, we watched the movie, The Battle of Algiers, a classic black and white movie about the Algerian War of Independence from France. It’s a remarkably even-handed movie, at times showing atrocities committed by France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) rebels, and at other times being sympathetic to both sides.

Albania: Fërgesë of Tirana with veal

We found very little when we looked for classic dishes of Albania, and what we did find look very boring. But the compensation was that the dishes looked easy to make. It seems that Fërgesë of Tirana is the classic dish (Tirana is the capital of Albania) so that’s what we decided to make.

Afghanistan – Qabili Pilau

Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires.

We start with one of the most topical countries in the world, a country that is going to fuck up Obama’s presidency because he’s not strong enough to stand up to the hawks. And the sad thing is that the war in Afghanistan is not even about Afghanistan.  Boston University professor Andrew Bacevich makes the point in Afghanistan – The Proxy War: