Eating the Globe: Slovakia

I'm almost at 50 countries. I think an Algerian lunch with HouseOfCadillacs this Saturday will be my 50th.

But let's go over No. 49 first. If there is one thing I've learned from this experience, it's that food does not have clear, 21st century borders. Japanese, Chinese, and Korean are similar. Same with Southeast Asian. And Middle Eastern. And Central/Eastern European.

I got this pork brochette dish today at a Czech restaurant. Everything on the menu, however, looked German. I was only able to order this dish because it was described as "Slovak".

What we have here is a lot of pork in a pond of mushroom-flavored grease, spaetzle egg noodle, sauerkraut, and picked cabbage. One of the reasons I'm not a huge fan of German cuisine is sauerkraut-- I do not like sour food.

The food was okay. For a quick lunch, it was actually great. I didn't appreciate the pond of grease, but everything tasted fresh and flavorful. I didn't have a beer because I had to work this afternoon.

The restaurant, by the way, was packed. All the Central Europeans within our area code were either watching football on TV inside or smoking/trading in homemade moonshine outside in the parking lot.

Countries tried so far:
Africa: Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Morocco, South Africa
Asia: Afghanistan, Burma, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Yemen
Europe: Bosnia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuainia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden
North America: Canada, El Savador, Guatemala, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, USA
South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela
Oceania: Tonga