Swaziland is a small, landlocked country almost entirely cocooned by South Africa. It was formerly a colony of the United Kingdom, now ruled by king Mswati III. The people are mostly Swazis who speak the Bantu language Swazi (also known as siSwati). Even compared to other African countries, the impact of AIDS in Swaziland has [...]

Benin is a fairly small country in West Africa, neighboured by Nigeria, Niger, Togo and Burkina Faso, with only little coastline. Owing to its colonial history it is mainly a French, Roman Catholic country, but significant language and religious minorities also exist, including Vodun. Considering how poor it is, Benin is in a fairly good [...]

Angola is a large country on the south-central coast of Africa. Until 1975 it was a territory of Portugal and as a result the population is largely Portuguese-speaking and Catholic country, although Bantu languages and indigenous religions also form large minorities. After Angola gained independence there was a civil war lasting until 2002 and killing [...]

Mauritius is a small island nation located in the southeast coast of Africa, a bit further away than Madagascar. There are a little over a million inhabitants, who are mostly a mix of Indian and African descents who speak Mauritian Creole, English and French. Hindus and catholics both make up about 35% of people respectively, [...]

Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands which is considered a part of Africa, even though it is located 1,500 km (over 900 miles) east of the mainland. It is a former colony of the United Kingdom. With 84,000 inhabitants it has the smallest population of any African country. Another thing worth mentioning is that [...]

Again sorry for not posting, blah blah blah. Not only have I been very busy with the move, I have also lost my cooking mojo. The selection of fresh veg and fruit is just so amazing and cheap here in Amsterdam compared to Finland (e.g. fresh green beans are 1/10 of the price!) that I [...]

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I have some major life changes happening in the next weeks, so unfortunately posts will still be sparse until mid September or so, possibly even longer. Writing this blog has made me realize how little I remember of the geography lessons I had in school. Not only are [...]

Lesotho is a small landlocked country which is also an enclave – meaning it is located inside the borders of another country, in this case South Africa. It is hard to find information about its cuisine, but Wikia Recipes Wiki says this: “Lesotho cuisine resulted from a blend of many cultures such as European, Asian [...]

Libya is a large country in North Africa. Their cuisine mixes Arabian and Mediterranean influences similar to other North African cuisines, with some Italian twists. Like in some other African (and South American) countries that have been Italy’s colonies pasta dishes are popular. One of the most popular dishes is bazin, some kind of a [...]

Kenya is a country in East Africa, which also has some coastline. Popular ingredients in Kenyan cuisine include fish, millet, sorghum, greens, taro, cassava, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkin sweet potatoes, and black-eyed beans. Meat has apparently been traditionally reserved for special occasions. Some of the food can be quite spicy similar to Indian food and coconut [...]