Chad is a large landlocked country in Central Africa. It is one of the poorest and most corrupted countries of the world and most Westerners probably know nothing about it. As is common in Africa, it is home to over 200 ethnic groups and like many African countries, it unfortunately has a history of civil [...]

Senegal is a country in the very west of Africa, which completely surrounds the tiny Gambia, save for its tiny coastline. Sometimes the countries are called “Senegambia”. Owing to its colonial past most of the people speak French (besides African languages), but almost all are Muslims. In the west Senegal is probably best known for [...]

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 [...]

Eritrea is a small country in the Horn of Africa, a single-party republic (gulp). In 2010 it received the lowerst press freedom rating in the world. It has been in constant problems, including a 30-year war, with the neighbouring Ethiopia. Eritrea used to host a large population of elephants, but currently there are thought to [...]

Venezuela is located in the north of South America. It was the first permanent settlement of the Spanish in South America, but gained its independence as early as 1821 thanks to the revolutionary Simón Bolïvar. He lended his name to Bolivia, but also remains in the official name of Venezuela, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Armenia is a small landlocked country located in the Caucasus that used to be a part of the Soviet Union. It is usually considered to be a part of Asia, but sometimes counted in Europe as well (e.g. Wikipedia lists it as a “bicontinental country” and it is also a member of the Council of [...]

Sorry again for the delay between postings. It’s been crazy in this household – we got married last week (there are photos and videos in case you’re interested and I will probably write an article about holding a vegan wedding later) and we are moving to the Netherlands in two weeks. So, not much time [...]