As part of my desire to experience new things and broaden my horizons, I'm realizing that I am pretty stagnant in my food repertoire. I like to think of myself as an adventurous eater, but it's really limited to the style of food that I'm eating. And it seems that I'm not very adventurous in that respect: Italian, Japanese (just sushi, really), Mexican, American (what does that even mean?), sometimes Russian or Polish, and German every once in awhile. Oh, and I went to a Spanish restaurant a couple of weeks ago. That's about it. I rarely even pepper in some Chinese--too many bad boxes of Sweet and Sour Pork, I guess.
That's eight. How sad is that? Different sources show between 189 and 195 recognized countries in the world. And that's just countries---how many different ethnicities and cultures exist within those countries? Thousands, probably. And I'm only eating from eight! Not a good enough ratio, I'm afraid.
So I'm going to branch out, kids. I'm going to make a list of all the countries in the world, and make it a goal eat food from every one of them. This, I admit, is daunting. But it's good to have a goal, right?
I'm sure you have questions---I know I do. First and foremost, there's the list, and the issue of countries. Like I said, there's between 189 and 195, depending upon who you believe. So, who do you believe? Should I go with who the USA, and who they recognize? Eh...seems awful political, and awful obvious. (US counts 194, if you're keeping track). Some other random country then? Maybe, say...Lichtenstein, for example. However, a little research shows that Lichtenstein does not diplomatically recognize the Czech Republic and Slovakia, because their royal family claims that Czechoslovakia illegally confiscated 1,600 square kilometers of land from them in 1918. See what I mean? It's all politics. And I'm pretty sure that both the Czech Republic and Slovakia are countries. So that's out as well. Shall I go with the majority? Too much research, frankly, and I'm already getting hungry.
United Nations? Seems okay. There's 192 members of the UN. The ones they don't have that apparently are independent states are Vatican City and Kosovo. Vatican City is all Catholics, and everyone knows they only need bread and wine...so I'm okay with that. And Kosovo is relatively new, so I'm okay with that too. And the United Nations is a fairly standard organization, I think.
I know, I know...what about Taiwan, you say. And other places that aren't technically countries. Puerto Rico? Bermuda? The United Kingdom?
Give me a break, I say. For now at least.
Here's the list of the members of the United Nations.
Let's eat.
