Ukraine is a large country in the Central/East Europe by the Black Sea, until 1991 a part of the Soviet Union. The Eastern Orthodox Christianity has heavily influenced the architecture, literature and music. Ukraine is sadly mostly known for negative things, like the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 and the 2006 Orange revolution after rigged [...]

Spain is the second largest country in Europe, located in the Southwest, by the Mediterranean. It also includes the Balearic islands, the Canary islands and three exclave states out of the country: the cities of Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco and Llívia in France (how come we were never told about these in school?). Some [...]

Yes, today’s recipe is vegan “pork” skin filled with “pork”. More about that below. Colombia is a large country in the northwestern South America. Considering that it houses almost 50 million inhabitants I’d say it is very poorly known here in Europe, compared to other Latin American countries. Ethnically it is very diverse and ecologically [...]

An Uyghur dish sounds very interesting, doesn’t it? Even better if you know who they are. The Uyghurs are an ethnic group of Turkic people living in Eastern and Central Asia, mostly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China, but also in other parts of China and several other nearby countries. Their total number [...]

Tanzania is a fairly large country in East Africa, which is thought to be the earliest areas inhabited by humans and prehuman hominids, as far as two million years ago. Like many African countries, it gained independence (from the UK) in the early 1960s, as two separate countries, Zanzibar and Tanganyika, which merged soon afterwards, [...]

Oh boy. Life has been busy. Interesting but busy. My first novel will be out soon, so a lot of work with proofs, promotion, etc. And I signed a contract for a food-related book (partially also a vegan cookbook!) which will be out next year. Quite excited about both! Unfortunately for most of you, they [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]