Cooking Travels

Back in 2002, when I first got to know a large international group of youth (many of whom are still my friends) I was really interested to learn more about their lives and their cultures.  At the same time I also started discovering some interest in cooking (nothing fancy, just to be able to survive :).  Soon the two interest started to converge and I started “terrorizing” my friends asking for recipes of the food their families cook back home.  That caused a lot of laughs, particularly from people who live in places where it is not that acceptable for men to cook, but nevertheless I got some responses.

My first culinary trip was to Pakistan thanks to Farah’s recipe.  I am not sure what the dish was called, but it was a lot of fun making it and I even tried documenting it.  This is where an idea of a culinary travelog was born.  During this trip I discovered a lot about the different versions of flat bread worldwide and learned how to make roti.  Then there was a culinary trip Sri-Lanka, thanks to Michelle’s recipe.  There I learned a lot about spices, which turned out to be useful in the future.  Later I was staying with my American friends who at the time lived in London and were big fans of making Indian food.  A single evening with them cooking made me realize that i might be not the only one interested in such adventures.

The more I talked to people about an idea of a communal culinary travelog, the more positive feedback I got.  Maybe people are just being nice and once I leave they think I am a complete nutcase, but let me assume for a second that there are other people out there who enjoy cooking and are willing to experience other cultures by making their food and (not just going to the local Mediterranean restaurant).  For those seeking such adventures, Veronica and I have created the “Cooking Travels”.

What?

“Cooking Travels” is about exploring the world without leaving your kitchen; it is about traveling to distant countries and experiencing their flavours and their smells through their traditional food; and it is about sharing your culture with other through food.  This is a global community of friends who love cooking, love experimenting with new things, and are willing to share that with others.

HOW?

There are few ways to participate:

• Share a recipe!
  If there is a dish that you particularly like, something that you mother (or your father) prepare for you to make you feel better, please share it with your friends!   You can post a recipe and the stories associated with it, so that other could try making that dish and see if that makes them happy too.  The preference is to family recipes, but if you came across  a recipe that seems interesting and has an equally interesting story or a cultural component attached to it, please share those as well.
• Cook something!
  This is probably the best part of it!  Pick a recipe from this site or one that you got from your friend from the other side of the globe, and try preparing it in your kitchen.  Then tell us how it went, what worked well, and what was more challenging.  Pictures would be appreciated as well as impressions from eating the dish!
• Enlighten us!
  There are probably tons of other things one can write about traveling through food.  I can envision stories with your observations of other people cooking, book reviews, other blogs suggestions, relevant videos, you name it!  We will try keeping it flexible, so if you have idea, please drop a line.

WHO?

It started with just Veronica and I, but very quickly Amna, Natasha, Billie, and Nadya have joined us.  We are not professional cooks, but we enjoy cooking and we enjoy trying new things, especially when it comes to food.   In the past few years I talked to a number of people about this idea and many of them sounded interested.  I hope to see at least some of them joining here soon.

If you are interested to get invovled, please get in touch! Let’s cook some travels!