Wales is a country that belongs to the United Kingdom, on the west coast of Great Britain. It is a mountainous area and one of the wettest countries in Europe. About 20% of its three million inhabitants speak Welsh – which is also spoken in a small part of Argentina, thanks to Welsh settlers. The [...]

Belarus is a landlocked former Soviet state in Eastern Europe. The name of the country (also in several other countries) means “White Russia”, though its origins are not completely clear. They have had the same president Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, as he has won the latest four elections. He is often referred to in the [...]

Ireland is one of the largest islands in the world. The northern tip of it belongs to the United Kingdom while the rest forms the Republic of Ireland. Besides English many Irish people also speak Irish, but it is no longer the main language. Ireland has a distinctive culture (much more than just beer, leprechauns [...]

The Netherlands is a fairly small but densely populated country in Western Europe. It is often called Holland, even though technically Holland is just one part of it. Together with the neighbouring Belgium and Luxemburg the trio is often known as Benelux countries. The Netherlands has a high standard of living and has the tallest [...]

Neighboured by Spain, Portugal is the westernmost country in Europe. It has had a number of colonies in its history. Most people know that Portuguese is spoken in Brazil, but also in some African and Asian countries such as Angola and East Timor. Still, unlike most former colonial powers, Portugal remains rather homogenic religion and [...]

Latvia is a fairly small and sparsely populated ex-Soviet country located in the Baltic region, between Estonia and Lithuania. Lithuanian and Latvian are the only Baltic languages remaining in the world. Latvian food is similar to that in other Baltic and Northern European countries with some Russian and German influences. Focus is on meat, fish, [...]

When thinking about the cuisine of Norway, at least here in Finland people will think fish, especially cod. It’s kind of a running joke that Norwegians only eat cod. They also eat a lot of other meats (especially reindeer and other kinds of game), bread, dairy products and wild berries and are the heaviest coffee [...]

Belgian cuisine is not particularly famous save for its chocolates, but one thing you can buy everywhere in Belgium (and the Netherlands) is French fries. Besides ketchup they are eaten with mayo, various mayo-based sauces and a psychedelic variety of other sauces people in most other countries would never think of eating with fries. There [...]

Germany is pretty much one of my food nightmare places, sorry Germans, and it’s not just because of the meat/sausage culture. Yes, Finnish food is horrible too, but at least we have some decent foods, like bread. When I travelled in Germany a few years ago, I struggled to find anything tasty. Even things like [...]

I’ve been to Denmark multiple times, though it’s been over a decade since the last time. The last time I attended a family party. Instead of cake the centerpiece of the food table was some kind of a roast, served with red cabbage and I think some kind of potatoes. The Danes like to eat [...]