I have to confess that only after I had cooked this dish I found out that besides Dominican Republic, there is also a country called Dominica. The adjective “Dominican” can refer to both (though according to Wikipedia it is pronounced in a different way!) so I’m not sure whether this dish is supposedly from Dominica [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Ecuador is a small country in the North-Eastern part of South America. As you can guess, the name comes from the Equator, which is why I always try to write it with a q Ecuador is probably best known for the Galápagos islands, the home to giant tortoises and other memorable animals. Last year I [...]

Nigeria is an African country that sadly is best known for the phishing letters associated with it. Like in many African countries Nigerian cuisine uses rice, corn, millet, peanuts, yams (which are not the same as sweet potatoes!), beans, coconut, herbs and spices, including chili. Beans and starches are often formed into pastes, mashes and [...]

Philippine cuisine mostly consists of meaty and fishy dishes, with some Spanish influences. Americans are probably most familiar with adobo, a garlicky sauce which is used in canned chipotles (smoked chili) and by the way isn’t available here in Finland, often causing me grief with some recipes. Another famous dish is sinigang, a sour soup [...]

Persian (or Iranian) dishes often feature fruits, either fresh and dried, spices and herbs, which suits me great. I’m a big fan of pomegranate, so ash-e anar found its way to my browser’s bookmarks as soon as I first heard about it. It is a split pea soup with herbs and pomegranate molasses (or juice). [...]

Welcome to Vegventures! We are going to start the journey from my “home country” of Finland (quotes because I’ve never felt at home here). Finland has a very bland and uninspiring cuisine heavily oriented around meat and potatoes. Besides the lack of veggies another downer is the scarcity of spices. Most dishes have just salt [...]