Polish Cuisine

Polish Cuisine

A lot like Morocco Poland has taken much of its inspiration for there cuisine from neighbouring countries such as Slovakia, Russia and Ukraine as well as other central European countries Germany, Spain and Italy. Other influences come from religion mainly Jewish due  to the high number of Jews living in Poland past and present. Similar to Germany there food consist of a lot of meats especially sausages. They use rich meats such as chicken pork and beef making a range of different sausages, kiszka is an example of a blood sausage similar to black pudding eaten in Poland.
For many of there dishes eggs and cream are used as well as noodles which are there main side dish. Zrazy is a beef piece stuffed with vegetables, egg, mushroom and potato and is eaten widely across Poland. Soup is also a common part of a Polish person diet such as tomato or mushroom soup. The climate is similar to that of Ireland making it possible to grown all these vegetables and  produce all the meats needed for there diets. A strange feature of food in Poland is they have there main meal (bigger than the average Irish dinner) at around 2pm or midday. A lot of cheese is also produced in Poland with one of the main types being  Oscypek which is a smoked cheese made of goats milk.
Desert is also a big part of there cuisine with a whole range of deserts being eaten, Pączek is a type of jam filled donut which is very common as well as Sernik which is probably the most common desert, it is a type of cheese cake with a type of jelly served on top.


Sernik                                                                                                          Oscypek

http://atinabc.blox.pl/Sernik
                  
                                                                                                    http://www.megapedia.pl/oscypek.html

Moroccan Cuisine

Moroccan Cuisine

Moroccan cuisine is influenced by its interactions and exchanges with different cultures and countries over the years. Some of these influences include Indian for there use of spices, Arab influences included the introduction of use of grains including wheat making breads as well other cereal based products. The Turks also had the influence while controlling Morocco introducing olive oil, nuts and a new range of vegetables. These continued to contribute to Moroccan cuisine as they could be produced in there country as the climates of some of the influential countries were similar to that of Morocco. One of the dishes that began in morocco that has now spread across the world is couscous. It is made up of steamed durum wheat which may not of come about if wasn't for the influence of the Arabs. It is widely eaten as a side dish as durum wheat can be grown in Morocco and the surrounding countries due to the small amount of precipitation needed in its growth. Morocco also produces a lot of its own spices now, some of these include cinnamon, cumin, ginger and pepper. For meats a lot of the Moroccan diet consist of lamb and beef. For there agricultural exports fishing is a main one making up over half the agricultural export market (56%).


   Moroccan Spice Market
                   
   http://en.wikipedia.org/Moroccan                http://onceamonthmeals.com/

Nigerian Cuisine

Nigerian Cuisine

Like many African countries Nigeria cuisine consists of many herbs and spices, many locally grown or produced within Nigeria or other western African countries. Examples are nigerian bitter leafs and suya spice. Crops such as sweet potato and cocoyams are main exports as they don't need as much moisture and fertile soil as other crops. In 1999 it was estimated over 3.3 million tons of cocoyams and 1.5 million tons of sweet potato were exported across the world. For there meats they consume a lot of goat and chicken as they are easily reared in the climate. They use these meats in dishes such as suya which is a type of shish kebab usually served with rice which is regular side dish used in nigeria. Beverages in Nigeria include soy bean milk as they are widely grown in Nigeria.  Palm wine is also drank which is a alcoholic beverage which is made from the sap of palm trees.

Cocoyam                                                                                                         Suya









http://www.food-info.net/uk/products/rt/cocoyam.htm                                             http://t3.gstatic.com/

Welcome to my blog. My name is Ross and I am a transition year student from Ireland. My blog will be on food related to the national dishes of countries and tying them to geography. Check back weekly for new posts!