As I make my way though my personal culinary challenge, Around the World in 80 Dishes, I have realized that I am missing a very important point. The challenge is to make a main course from 80 different countries. The order has sometimes been random, sometimes intentional. With each country, I try to learn about its history, its cuisine and its culture. It is that last aspect, that is culture, where the problem arises. Countries are largely a construct. There may be one predominant ethnic group within that construct. However, the borders of a country are usually drawn in a way that encloses (and some cases cut-off) smaller ethnic groups.
Each of these minorities has their own history, culture and cuisine. Thus, many countries are more than they seem. As I have completed my challenges, I began to learn more and more of these interesting ethnic groups within a country. After I completed my 20th challenge, I decided that I would do a special challenge about the cuisine of an ethnic group that does not have its own recognized country. The first such challenge was Tibet.
However, one Around the World in 80 Dishes pushed me further. The challenge involved Myanmar (Burma). Myanmar's borders draw a country that includes 136 ethnic groups. One of those groups is the Rohingya, who have been subject to extreme violence and persecution over the years. Given their treatment at the hands of the Myanmar government, I dedicated that challenge would focus on the Rohingya. I made a main course based upon their cuisine and used the blog post to discuss their plight.
After the Myanmar challenge, I began to think more about ethnic minorities in different countries. This has led to this page, Beyond Borders, where I will post the dishes that I have made based upon the cuisines of different ethnic groups regardless of country. This page is a work in progress I have gone back through some of my old posts (such as the Tibet special challenge) and more recent ones (such as the Myanmar challenge), and have posted the dishes by ethnic group below. As I cook more dishes based the cuisine of different cultures, I will post them on this page.
AFRICA (Eastern)
Chagossians
Serrage PouletAFRICA (Western)
Saints St. Helena Fish Cakes
Saints
St. Helena Fish CakesASIA (Central Asia)
ASIA (Eastern Asia)
Macanese
African Chicken (Galinha a Africana)
Rohingya
Durus Kura
Durus Kura
ASIA (Southern Asia)
Kashmiri
ASIA (Western Asia)
Armenians (Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh)
Palestinians
Farmer's Salad (Palestinian Salad)
Zibdiyet Gambari (Spicy Shrimp and Tomato Stew)
EUROPE (Western)
Basque
Txuleta with Red Pepper
Txuleta with Red Pepper
Accuighe con Salsa Verde
NORTH AMERICA
Ojibwe
SOUTH AMERICA
OCEANIA
Hawaiian
Maori
I will continue to add new posts and recipes as I continue my explorations through the cuisines of difficult cultures around the world.
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