tastily touring: visiting burkina faso & a welsh cake recipe (banfora)

Burkina Faso is located in west Africa and might as well be a world away from our last stop on our Tastily Touring journey. Burkina Fasa, formerly the Republic of Upper Volta, is a landlocked country surrounded by Mali, Niger, Benin,Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. Usually we don’t mention the capitals of each country we visit, but the name of Burkina’s capital is Ouagadougou, which we love to try to spell without looking at the correct spelling. Burkina Faso is about 105,000 square miles, approximately the size of Colorado. This west African nation is tropical with warm, dry winters and hot, wet summers. Of the approximately 15,800, 000 people who reside in Burkina 40% are Mossi and the other 60% is a mix of Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Mande and Fulani. The official language is French, however over 90% of the population speaks a native Africa language belonging to the... Read the Rest →

 

tastily touring: visiting bulgaria & organic homemade yogurt

Bulgaria, a Southeastern European country bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east, is our next stop as we “tour” the world. Bulgaria is one of 7 countries whose borders lie completely within the region known as the Balkan Peninsula. The Bulgars, a central Asian Turkic tribe and the local Slavic inhabitants merged to form the first Bulgarian state in the 7th century. Bulgaria has been a historical crossroads situated between Europe and Asia. Many civilizations have flowed through the region which was marked by fierce fighting as well as rich cultural history due to the many people who came and went. In the 7th century Bulgaria emerged as a state to only have to struggle against the Byzantine Empire and then by the 14th century succumb to the rule of the Ottoman... Read the Rest →

 

tastily touring: visiting brunei with a black rice pudding (bubur ketan hitam)

Brunei Darussalam’s official name is the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace. It is located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia and is bordered by the South China Sea and Malaysia. It is in Southeast Asia that we find ourselves as we continue our tastily touring journey. The Brunei Empire thrived from the 15thcentury to the 17th century. During Brunei’s golden age it controlled the entire island of Borneo and into the Philippines. Chinese and Arabic records show that as early as the seventh or eighth century A.D. an ancient kingdom existed near the Brunei River. After a succession of Empires controlled the area the Brunei Empire emerged to dominate the area. While the rise of European colonialism and influence in the region disrupted the economic trading flow Brunei was able to survive internal battles. However, it became a protectorate of the British... Read the Rest →

 

tastily touring: british indian ocean with scones and clotted cream recipe by alton brown

The British Indian Ocean Territory is our next Tastily Touring stop. And, once again we are in a part of the world that is uninhabited. The BIOT also known as the Chagos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom that consists of six main island groups that comprise the Chagos Archipelago. There are about one thousand tiny islands with 23 total square miles. The largest island is home to a UK/US joint naval support facility. The remaining islands are uninhabited. BIOT is located in the Indian Ocean between Africa and Indonesia. These islands were charted by Vasco da Gama in the early 1500’s and then claimed by France, becoming a possession of the Mauritius. Eventually agricultural workers (some of them slaves) were brought to the islands to work plantations. These workers were eventually known as Chagossians. In 1810 the United Kingdome captured Mauritius and France gave over the... Read the Rest →

 

tastily touring: {brazil} feijoada recipe

Brazil has the largest population in Latin America and ranks fifth in the world. It is currently the fifth largest economy in the world and is home to the Amazon Rainforest and is a popular location for tourism. Most of the 190 million Brazilians live in the south-central area, which includes the cities of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte. Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas. Brazil’s impressive Atlantic Ocean coastline is 4, 655 miles long and it is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. Brazil is bordered by Colombia on the northwest and by Bolivia and Peru in the west. Argentina and Paraguay border Brazil in the southwest while Uruguay borders the south. Brazil, amazingly, borders all South American countries except Ecuador and Chile. Brazil was given to Portugal as part of the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494; however... Read the Rest →

 

tastily touring: (bouvet island) bread pudding by paula dean

Bouvet Island is our next destination in our tastily touring series. Bouvet Island is an uninhabited, Antarctic islet. It is one of the world’s most isolated islands and lies almost 1500 miles south west of the Cape of Good Hope (Southern Africa) and about 1000 miles north or Antarctica. The center of Bouvet Island is an ice-filled crater of an inactive volcano. Because of its volcanic origin the island is rocky with cliffs surrounding the coast. Ice covered and rocky make landing on Bouvet Island challenging. Bouvet Island is a dependent territory of Norway and is not subject to the Antarctic Treaty, which is basically an agreement first established in 1961. The treaty has been signed by 49 nations that agree to keep Antarctica as a scientific preserve, banning military activity on the continent. The French navigator Jean-Baptist-Charles Bouvet de Lozier discovered the island in 1739. Expeditions by the Germans... Read the Rest →

 

tastily touring: (bouvet island) bread pudding by paula dean

Bouvet Island is our next destination in our tastily touring series. Bouvet Island is an uninhabited, Antarctic islet. It is one of the world’s most isolated islands and lies almost 1500 miles south west of the Cape of Good Hope (Southern Africa) and about 1000 miles north or Antarctica. The center of Bouvet Island is an ice-filled crater of an inactive volcano. Because of its volcanic origin the island is rocky with cliffs surrounding the coast. Ice covered and rocky make landing on Bouvet Island challenging. Bouvet Island is a dependent territory of Norway and is not subject to the Antarctic Treaty, which is basically an agreement first established in 1961. The treaty has been signed by 49 nations that agree to keep Antarctica as a scientific preserve, banning military activity on the continent. The French navigator Jean-Baptist-Charles Bouvet de Lozier discovered the island in 1739. Expeditions by the Germans... Read the Rest →

 

tastily touring: visiting botswana with a seswaa recipe (porridge with beef stew)

Our next stop on our world tour is Botswana, a land-locked country situated on the southern tip of the African continent. It is surrounded by Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia. Botswana is mostly subtropical and is primarily desert and savanna. With a subtropical climate and terrain that is mostly desert or savanna; Botswana boasts some of the continents best wildlife areas with almost 40% of the country appropriated for national parks, reserves and wildlife management areas. Most people have heard of “Bushmen”. They have lived in Botswana for thousands of years. Bantu peoples lived in the area about two thousand years ago and then the Tswana arrived around three hundred years ago. In 1885 the area became a British protectorate called Bechuanaland. It was in 1966 when the country gained independence that “Botswana” was adopted as its name. Botswana has a thriving economy, one of the best on... Read the Rest →

 

tastily touring: bosnian style baklava

It is time for another Tastily Touring post. I had a full post written when I opened the newspaper at the beginning of April and I saw an aerial photo of a street that looked as if it had been painted red. Reading further I learned that what made the main street of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, look red was not paint, but the 11,541 red chairs that were placed there to commemorate the Sarajevans that were killed in the longest siege in modern history. The red chairs are a hard, cold visual reminder of the human cost of war. Of the 11,541 chairs, 1,600 were small ones, for children. More than 50,000 Sarajevans were wounded and over 100,000 people were killed throughout the country during the Bosnian War (April 1992-December 1995). The red chairs were placed on the main street through Sarajevo to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the... Read the Rest →

 

tastily touring: a visit to bolivia with a coconut pudding recipe

We last visited Bhutan, a landlocked country in Asia. Today we visit another landlocked country, but this time we find ourselves in central South America. The country of Bolivia, Plurinational State of Boliva, is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, Chile to the southwest and Peru to the west. Bolivia is named after Simon Bolivar, the freedom fighter who helped Bolivia gain independence from Spanish rule in 1825. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish and European colonization the Andean region of Bolivia was a part of the Inca Empire. But, when the Spanish colonized the region it was referred to as Upper Peru and was only renamed Bolivia after 16 years of fighting (from 1809-1825) when independence was won. While Bolivia is a Democratic Republic, its history is full of strife. Over 200 coups, counter-coups and economic instability define the rocky... Read the Rest →

 

tastily touring: visiting bhutan a ema datshi recipe (hot and spicy)

The Kingdom of Bhutan, Druk Yul,(”Land of the Thunder Dragon”), is a small, land-locked mountainous nation in Asia, located in the eastern Himalaya Mountains north of India and south of China. Its geographical uniqueness kept out foreign influence which allowed the Bhutanese people to indulge in a policy of isolationism. Bhutan was never colonized, which is a source of pride for the Bhutanese people, a self-sufficient people who had limited contact with the rest of the world. Bhutanese history may date back to 2000 B.C. Its ancient history was preserved by oral tradition threaded with mythology. In the 7th century A.D. Buddhism took hold in Bhutan. Guru Rimpoche arrived in 747 A.D. “landing” in Taktsang, Paro. (The legend says that Guru Rimpoche flew on the back of a tiger and landed in Taktsang, Paro.) The Taktsang monastery is a revered religious site to this day. Bhutan has a very deeply... Read the Rest →

 

tastily touring: visiting bermuda a kedgeree recipe (fish)

Bermuda is an archipelago (a large group or chain of islands) consisting of seven main islands and about 130 smaller islands. A British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Islands of the Bermuda are located approximately 1000 miles northeast of Miami Florida. The uninhabited island was discovered around the year 1505, some 500 years ago, by Spanish explorer, Juan de Bermudez, after whom the islands are named. While the discovery was made there was no attempt to land or settle the islands until 1609. In 1609 nine ships owned by the Virginia Company of London leave England with more colonists and supplies for the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia. The fleet is commanded by Sir George Somers whose ship is separated from the fleet during a storm at sea. The ship becomes lodged on one of Bermuda’s reefs. The crew and colonists are able to make it to shore.... Read the Rest →

 

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