Discover | Global Table Adventure

There’s what in my drink?

Welcome to the wonderful world of “I didn’t know that!” Haiti Take a stroll through the Haitian markets. Soak up the sights and smells. See that lady selling jars of brightly colored liquid? She’ll tell you “All the medicine you’ll ever need is in a jar of rum.” She’s not selling just any rum, this is the Klerin pharmacy, a.k.a. the white rum pharmacy. All manner of goodies are added to her jars – from spices to bark, fruit to leaves. A few sips of this trempé and you just might find your tummy woes gone. Or eyes feeling better. Or that growth on your face suddenly shrinking. Who knew? Honduras Honduras, like many countries in the Americas, enjoys a good smoothie. Pineapples and melons, outrageously heavy with sweet juices, get whirred up into licuados, meaning latin smoothie. The fun thing about licuados is you can have your breakfast cereal right in your drink. Locals particularly love granola, oatmeal, and cornflakes. Try it with your next drink – toss in a small handful and give it …

About the Food of Haiti & Honduras

This week we’re tackling Haiti and Honduras so as to build in a little vacation time later this summer. First up, Haiti. I have a new neighbor. His name is Jonathan. Five minutes into our first conversation I learn that he has been to Haiti. A pretty great stroke of fortune, if you ask me – right up there with the lady from Belarus working at Dillards, the door-to-door salesman from Bulgaria, and Ava’s playmate who’s daddy has been to Ghana. Most excellent. Well, the first Hatian dish Jonathan suggested was spaghetti with ketchup and mayo on top. Suddenly, I wasn’t so excited. I begged him to dig deeper. The thing is, food in Haiti is really simple. Spaghetti with ketchup and mayo on top is about as typical as it gets. Other than that, street food includes basic, affordable dishes like beans and rice (a.k.a. peas n’ rice) [recipe] or plantains – fried, mashed, boiled. Jonathan states: I remember the fried plantain fondly. You would buy them from street vendors (well, you bought everything from …

Monday Meal Review: Guyana

THE SCENE From across the store I could see them – orange habaneros, piled high, glowing like the summer sun. They were small and tender in appearance but, I knew all too well, scary hot on the inside. Like a crab, I sidestepped across the room, handling several cases of produce before I made my way to the peppers. “Ouch,” I thought, thinking of the meal to come. “This is gonna hurt.” I scooped up three small beauties, reasoning that if they can eat six in Guyana, surely I can stretch myself to try three. By the time I got home, I’d lost my resolve. I’d try one, maybe two habaneros in the Caribbean Green Seasoning. I cut up the celery, onions, garlic, and herbs – tossed them into the blender, and plugged the machine in. No more avoiding it. Time for the peppers. I split a habanero down the middle, taking care to avoid the hot juices, and threw one half in. I didn’t so much look at the second half. So much for bravery. …

Guyana for the win (w/ poll)

For a long time now I’ve wanted live with goats. But it doesn’t end there. I want to eat thick, hearty cheese sandwiches made with rustic, country bread. I want to eat them every day. All day. While smelling wildflowers and wearing a frock. It all started when I read Heidi, the story of a little girl who does, well, almost exactly that. Enter Guyana. They do it. They eat cheddar-cheesy bread sandwiches for snacks. For dinner. Whenever, really. Winning. Just imagine this after school snack: … visions of a warm, hearty Tennis Roll, sliced in half and protecting thick slices of cheddar cheese … To wash it down, an ice-cold glass of cream soda made creamy with carnation milk. Ooo la la! Childhood memories of this after school snack thrilled me. Cynthia Nelson, Starbroek News. I’m thinking I can somehow combine my Heidi daydream with these tennis rolls for an outrageously awesome fantasy. And in this daydream my frock will never get too small because I ate too much cheese and bread. So what …

About the food of Guyana

Welcome to Guyana – where you can eat a plate of curry [Recipe] with a side of chow mein [Recipe]. What a combination. What a melting pot. What time do we eat? Oh, and did I mention Guyana is in South America? Yep. This rugged country plates up food from halfway across the world thanks to the influence of British colonizers. Take a stroll down her sandy shores – deep tan like crushed graham crackers – or climb the plateaus in the west; either way you’ll quickly learn why Guyana is called the land of many waters. Rivers swim across the countryside, producing spectacular waterfalls which thread through jungle, and mountain, and cloud. The Guyanese eat a lot more like the peoples of the Caribbean than South Americans. Case in point: their love of curry. They even season their food with the same Green Seasoning that heats up the food across the islands (a firey hot blend of habeneros, celery, garlic, onion, thyme, and more) [Recipe]. Tourists everywhere cry when they taste this stuff. In …

Monday Meal Review: Guinea and Guinea-Bissau

THE SCENE: I cut into the yucca root, first trimming the ends, then cracking it down the middle. Instead of revealing creamy white flesh, the yucca was speckled and streaked with brown. Rotten. I grabbed the peeler and stripped off the thick skin, exposing even more bruised flesh. Why I peeled that rotten yucca, I cannot tell you, but when I was done, I dutifully cut it into thick sticks and placed them in a pretty pile. I then pushed the pile straight into the trash. Darn yucca. Mocking me again. I looked over at the second and final yucca root, eying the waxy brown skin. It looked exactly the same as the first – no outer signs of distress. No signs of rot. I took a deep breath and cut one end open, swearing I would never ever make another yucca dish if this one wasn’t any good. At the very least I wouldn’t make another yucca dish that day – I had no way to get to the supermarket. As I cracked the knife away from the …

What to do with the rest of the goat? Find your beat in West Africa (w/ poll)

Want to get up and dance? Shake a little soul onto the dance floor? Come, let’s find the beat, West African-style… with the Djembe, the drum of choice. Use it or lose it: The top of the drum is spread tightly with goat skin. Loads of goat meat is consumed in West Africa, often wrapped in banana leaves [recipe] or stewed, so making a djembe with the skin is a fantastic way to use the whole animal, not just the meat. As my mom always said, “waste not, want not.” Say what? The goats in West Africa live a tough, tough existence which, in turn, makes their skin tougher…. which, in turn, makes the drum sound different than djembes in other regions. Inspiration: I like to scour the net for people who have traveled, who can give me a picture of the foreign lands I can only dream about. Today I’d like to share with you two descriptions of dance in Guinea and Guinea Bissau… descriptions that I found inspirational. That made me want to …

About the food of Guinea and Guinea-Bissau

Are you ready? This week is a double hitter; we’re discussing two West African neighbors, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Don’t be fooled by their names – these countries are quite a bit different. Especially when it comes to the food. Sure they both share a love for typical West African foods, like Groundnut soup (absolutely amazing) [recipe], Batons de manioc (fascinating!) [recipe], Yucca Fries [Recipe], Jollof (a rice dish cooked with tomatoes and spices) [Recipe] and loads of tropical fruit so fresh it would make you weep (try this papaya chutney, for example [Recipe]), but they also have completely different cultures. For starters, Guinea is a former French colony. This means the city folk they pile their plates high with French-inspired dishes, like ones we’ve visited in the past – classic French omelets [recipe] or coupé coupé (smoked bbq meats) in a baguette sandwich [recipe]. On the other hand, Guinea-Bissau is a former Portuguese colony. Head into one of the big-town bakeries and you’ll likely see cases of Portuguese pastries, cookies [Recipe], and breads. You’ll also find tons of cashews …

Monday Meal Review: Guatemala

THE SCENE I was happy. I drank frothy hot cocoa. It was rich and sweet and I could see the sun peeking through the grey clouds. The breeze smoothed my hair back like an old friend. And then I looked. The picnic table was moving – marching, marching, marching. I focused my eyes. Ants. Headed straight for the hot cocoa bars. Ready to carry mountains on their backs. Ready to eat sugar until they were too full to fit into their tunnels. Into the cracks and grass and wherever else ants march. I took another sip of my hot cocoa. I thought about cleaning them up. Shooing them away. Spraying, wiping, swiping. But the ants would just keep coming. I looked down at my cup and watched the frothy bubbles pop. I shut my eyes and took another sip. Sweet, sugary goodness. Oh, how it tasted exactly like “good.” All I wanted in that moment was to enjoy the cocoa. It was divine. I peeked over at the ants, now nibbling the chocolate. That’s all they …

In Search of the Guatemalan Sweet Tooth (with poll)

Did you know there’s a town in Guatemala called El Chocolate? It’s true. It’s a sign of the times. Guatemalans love, love, love chocolate. They grow it. They drink it. But for some reason, they just don’t eat a lot of it. In fact, they drink chocolate way more than they eat the stuff. I have first-hand reports from my pen-pal Audrey (of Uncornered Market), that they had a surprisingly difficult time finding a regular bar of chocolate to eat during their stay in Guatemala. Amazing. The only bars they could find were dry and crumbly – meant for making hot cocoa. They even participated in a chocolate bar making class (pictured above), in which the learned how to press and decorate the bars, but – again – they were only meant for drink making. Sounds at once delicious and unusual – which is why I’ll be posting a recipe for Guatemalan hot cocoa in a few days. It’ll be rich. It’ll be frothy. It’ll be everything you ever dreamed hot cocoa could be. With cinnamon. Stay tuned.

This couple has been traveling for nearly a decade… and counting

Imagine if this was your view… Imagine if you could be in these places… Imagine if the world was your back yard. You’re in for a real treat today – Audrey Scott and Dan Noll from Uncornered Market are here to answer a few questions. They live a life I can only dream about. They explore the world for a living. The world is their back yard. That’s right. In 2006 left their corporate desk jobs, got rid of their belongings, and went off to… well, wherever the wind blows them. They support themselves by writing travel articles, sharing their inspiring photography, and with their web site. What does this mean? It means while I’m overwhelmed with too much stuff in my small house, they’re off with nothing more than a couple of backpacks in the great big world. Free and light as a couple of birds. It makes me want to have a yard sale. I love their approach to life – they’re filled with curiosity, adventure and good-will to the people of this …

About the food of Guatemala

Follow the rainforest trails, past the ancient and active volcanoes, through patches of arid desert and towering Mayan ruins, and pull up a chair to the Guatemalan Global Table. Just don’t sit too close – you need room for your belly to grow. And, I promise you, it will grow. For starters, you’ll be chowing down on pupusa – the awesome corn (masa harina) snack packet we made for El Salvador [Recipe]. Then there’ll be a heaping portion of Guatemalan mole, called recado or pepian, often served over chicken [Recipe]. This clay colored sauce is made with a filling blend of pumpkin/squash seeds, sesame seeds, dried peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, cinnamon and more. Another recipe that uses sesame and pumpkin/squash seeds is called Jacon – this dish is deep green thanks to loads of cilantro and tomatillos. Both will fill your belly right up! If you can handle a few happy carbs (I’m always up for a good carb load), then you really should eat these dishes with rice or corn tortillas [Recipe]… the fresher the better. If …