antipinkkitten When we started this blog in 2021, we had no idea where we’d end up. We started our World Tour in Mesopotamia, basing it off the oldest recipe written and hopped around, until we determined our footing. We focused on some regions longer, focused on empires, to then, human migration.
Regardless of the path we took, we stuck to our core: Recipes utilizing native or early-migrated ingredients. Nothing post-1492, unless the culture was actually able to avoid interactions with wayfarers from Europe. A lot of this took us having heated debates. Myself, the individual who cooks, knows how flavors meld and has a basic knowledge of human migration vs. Bradly, the trained Archaeologist , always adamant to declare “There is no evidence of that.”
This provided us the ability to create 40 amazing recipes, from around the world. This trip, which we are calling “World Tour Round 1”, is the basic starting ground. It’s our first experiment of trying out recipes and keeping the challenge simple: Ingredients present at a select time.
Round 2, which will start in September, will have a new challenge: Ingredients present at a select time, during a select season.
We’ll get further into Round 2 as we go forward, but for this week, we’re going to focus on rounding up the recipes and the friends we made along the way.
The Recipes
- How to make a Peruvian Baked Potatoes
- How to make traditional Hawaiian Tuna Steaks
- How to make steamed pork dumplings
- How to make Ancient Indian Lemon Rice
- How to make a Persian Lamb Biryani
- How to celebrate the Harvest in South Africa
- How to make a Barley & Lentil Stew with Ostrich
- How to make Awaze Tibs from the 13th Century Ethiopia
- How to make a Benin Empire Chicken Stew
- How to make a recipe that proves Early Britons ate more than boiled meat
- How to make a Roman Chicken Rub
- Strabo’s testimony on an Iberian Stew
- How to make Red Beans and (Wild) Rice
- How to make a hearty Corn Porridge with Bison
- Exploring the Coahuiltecan: How to make a Duck Egg Frittata
- How to make a Peruvian Pumpkin Cake
- How to make an Aztec feast: Muscovy Duck Tamales
- Let’s make a Mayan Chili
- How to make a Peruvian Stew – Influenced by Inca Culture
- How to make a traditional Brazilian Dessert Pre-Columbian
- What makes a Pumpkin Soup, Brazilian?
- Travel to Ancient Chile – How to make a Coastal Dinner of Roasted Potatoes and Poached Sole
- How to make a nutrient-dense South American Smoothie
- Ancient Healthy Dessert: How to make a Sweet Potato Pudding with Flaxseed
- How to make a historically-modified Mäori Boil Up
- An Easy and Satisfying Dessert: Honey Roasted Macadamia Nuts
- A simple recipe of Kangaroo Loins and Roasted Taro Root
- How to make a Thai Post Neolithic Kluai Khaek
- Bonus Recipe: Coconut Milk from scratch
- How to get a “Wow” factor with Neolithic Black Rice Pudding
- How to make a Post-Neolithic version of Tom Kha Soup
- Mango and Coconut Chicken – Moving on to Southeastern Asia
- History can be unpalatable: Formation of 1000 c.e. Dan Dan Noodles
- The fowl trade antecedents within the Han Dynasty and the advent of new flavors.
- Dining during the Neolithic, in a Yellow River Civilization
- Cessation of the Ancient Persian Empire with a simple dish of Khichdi and Roti
- How to make a dish that’s Sweet and Savory with Turmeric Chicken and Sultana Rice Pilaf
- How to prepare a feast of Lamb in Pistachio Yogurt Sauce with Stewed Turmeric Lentils
- Bonus Recipe: Greek Barley Rusks – Paximadi Kritiko
- Bonus Recipe: Sourdough Einkorn crackers and fruit
- How to make an Ancient Persian Lamb Stew
- How to Spit-roast Pork: A feast that Dionysus would appreciate
- How to make Barley Flatbread – The Key to a Grecian Meatless Dinner
- An Elite Grecian Paradise: How to make a Grilled Seafood Stew – Greece, 356 B.C.E
- Dining with Pharaohs – A New Kingdom (18th to 20th) Rabbit and Bean Stew
- How to make an Egyptian Ghee and Dill Baked Tilapia with Red Lentil Soup
- How to make one of the earliest recipes: Mesopotamian Soup and Mersu
Highlights
Best Recipe?
Meghan – I have an obsession with the super fragrant dishes, like the Awaze Tibs, the Mango Chicken and Turmeric Chicken with Sultana Pilaf.
Bradly – Any of them that used potatoes! I love potatoes! (Mäori Boil-Up, Roasted Potatoes with Poached Sole, Peruvian Stew and Sweet Potato Pudding)
Worst Recipe?
Meghan – Dan Dan Noodles or the Duck Egg Frittata. Both were totally inedible for me, but the duck egg one was a preference issue – That sulphuric taste was overpowering for me.
Bradly – The recipe that I am most unhappy with would have to be the dan dan noodles. Having to leave out ingredients that are used in the modern dish, made the receipe less than appetizing. The real problem with it is that I don’t think there would be anyway to save the recipe sticking to what they had available at the time.
Recipe most likely to recreate?
Meghan – I would like to try some more of the breads and baked goods that required me to make a sourdough or fermented goods. Often, I don’t give myself enough time with these recipes to do those, but I really want to be able to make some of these recipes better or entirely new variations.
Bradly – Still potatoes. I would want to involve native alliums (Onions, etc.) for the regions to provide more flavor, but I think that would be a great addition.
Recipe most likely to remake as is?
Meghan – I still dream about the lamb in pistachio yogurt sauce, over a year later. Between the flavors, the savory aspects paired with the sweet features – It is the perfect summer dinner.
Bradly – POTATOES! HOW MANY TIMES AM I GOING TO HAVE TO SAY IT?!? POTATOES! (Mäori Boil-Up, Roasted Potatoes with Poached Sole, Peruvian Stew and Sweet Potato Pudding)
What do you wish we did?
Meghan – I wish we spent more time in Asia or North America. But at that point, I was becoming so nauseous from the pregnancy that my food aversion was at it’s peak. Now that I’m not pregnant, it feels like something we will do more of in the future to give these regions the time they deserve.
Bradly – While we were doing many of the recipes Meghan was pregnant with our little one. This made some of the recipes very limited for spices or meats that we were allowed to use. I would like to go back and remake some of them now that she is no longer pregnant.
What are you happy with?
Meghan – I’m happy that we had so much fun doing this. We always had the logic that we had to eat, so even if we were tired or uninterested – We made the recipes and we made them as accurately as we could. I got to learn so much history and get to have spirited conversations with Bradly on these. It has me so excited for Round 2.
Bradly – The thing I am the most happy about is that we stuck to the ingredients that would have been available. It made a lot of the recipes difficult to make, either because we didn’t have access to certain ingredients or because things like woolly mammoths are no longer around. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the next set of adventures we are going on.
So, what did you think?
Let us know in the comments or on our Instagram. We loved this adventure and would love to know what you thought before we move forward.
What’s your favorite recipe?
What was your least favorite?
What do you wish we focused more on?
Have you made any of the recipes? Share your photos with us!
