And so my culinary adventure begins...

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antarctica, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba & The Netherlands Antilles, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile & Easter Island, China, Colombia, Comoros & Mayotte, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote D’ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo,  Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador & The Galapagos Islands, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam & Northern Mariana Islands, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn Island, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of Congo, Reunion Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent  & The Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia & Montenegro, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tahiti & French Polynesia, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tibet, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad & Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks & Caicos Island, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands, Wales, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe. 


And there it is  – all 230 countries that I will, in the coming months, attempt to cook my way through - a daunting prospect. My plan is to get a taste of each country by cooking, or at least attempting to cook its national dish. I am not a particularly talented cook, nor have I traveled to many (ok, most) of these 230 countries, however cooking their local dishes is as close as I can get for now.

Knowing me, this challenge will inevitably lead to a series of fancy dress and themed nights, the most unashamed display of blatant stereotyping, and a barbeque when we get to Australia (I’m looking into ordering Kangaroo online, al a Come Dine With Me).  If I can make a few friends who actually come from some of these countries that could give me a real, authentic cooking lesson along the way, all the better (so call me).

I’m not sure what good it will do to pledge that I will remain as authentic and true to the recipes as possible – I can’t see myself eating penguin or shark but I’m really hoping some country warrants that I roast something whole on a spit! Oh and I’m definitely going to kill a lobster in France. I’ll try and get all the food I can in authentic food stores around Dublin and I know for a fact there’s a lobster down the road with my name on it. I promise to whole-heartedly give my honest opinion of what every country ‘tastes like’, making provisions of course for my culinary shortcomings. Maybe I could set up a Eurovision Song Contest Style scoreboard. God knows they make up half the worlds countries as it is.

I better get started. There’s a lot to get through. First stop – Afghanistan!