We have no idea what we’re doing

• This project—to cook a meal from each of the planet’s countries in alphabetical order—has a few objectives:

  • foremost, to expand our family’s understanding of other cultures and cuisines,

  • to give our kids a better understanding of how big the world is, and

  • to have an activity that brings us together in choosing dishes, cooking, researching countries, and eating.

• We know our way around a kitchen, and we’ve traveled a bit, but we’re not professional chefs, and certainly aren’t knowledgeable about all of the cultures or cuisines we’ll be cooking. We are white and from British/Dutch and Russian/Polish/Austrian/German heritages, so we lack deep familiarity with much of the world’s cuisines.

• If a meal turns out less than great, we just assume that either we selected lousy recipes or executed them poorly; that particular cuisine is obviously often delicious in someone else’s hands.

• For each country, we’ve given an over/under on our likelihood of success in cooking that cuisine.

• We welcome your thoughts on better dishes we could have selected, or techniques we could have done better. Comments on each post are open!