Europe on a Plate: The backstory

We are staycationing this summer, part of our efforts to live a more relaxed and sustainable lifestyle. We live in Copenhagen, famously a livable city and at it's best in July when, for some reason, most of the local population decides to go on holiday.

So this year we're being tourists in our own town and enjoying the best of the summer. However, there's no reason to confine ourselves to danish only food. After all, one of the best things about travel is the opportunity to taste different foods and cuisines, so the mission this year is to try a different country's food everyday.

Ideally, we want to keep it as vegetarian as possible. Traditionally people simply didn't eat as much meat as modern Europeans do, so I'm hoping to discover some good traditional recipes that are either veggie or can be made so. Each day we'll also write a bit about what we liked and didn't like.

I plan to post recipes etc as we go, but first we need to work out who is in Europe and what their most famous dishes are...

The list of 49 (!) different countries below are the commonly accepted entries into "Europe", (though some of them also stray well into Asia and the North Atlantic).

But where to start? Some of the cusines are easy (hello Italy and France), some of them are regulars (Greetings UK, NL and Denmark) and some are so different I've no idea where to even start (Azerbaijan?).

So I asked the fediverse.

And goodness me did they answer...

Check out the replies to my original question here.

A particular favourite was the response from Ali Clarke to check out Ruth Salter's #CookTheCup which is a dish for each country competing in the European championships this year and helpfully has allowed me to fill out a few countries I knew nothing about and have yet to have any responses from.

I'm still missing some entries so if you have suggestions, feel free to add them in on my original mastodon thread.

Albania -> Byrek me Spinaq - spinach and feta filo pie from #CookTheCup

Andorra

Armenia

Austria -> Dr Doro recommends Austrian Gröstl (pan-fried potatoes with vegetables and eggs)! The traditional recipe contains some kind of meat or sausage but it can easily be replaced: https://firsteffect.com/vegetarian-grostl-recipe/ with a dessert featuring apricots suggested by Gudroot

Azerbaijan

Belarus

Belgium

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bulgaria

Croatia -> Bajadera - chocolate and walnut tray bake from #cookTheCup

Cyprus

Czechia -> Plum koláče - enriched bread pastry with plums and streusel topping from #CookTheCup

Denmark -> Koldskål with kammerjunkere and strawberries for dessert. Haven't quite decided on the main course, but it might be a smørrebrød on a delicious Emmerys Rye bread and with lots of fresh vegetables and good salted butter..

Estonia

Finland

France -> Cheese heavy (as you'd expect maybe?) but with the outstanding suggestion of galettes - lots of great vegetarian options with that one, we shall have fun with.

Georgia -> Acharuli - Khachapuri (cheese-filled bread) from Adjara from #CookTheCup

Germany -> Quite a few suggestions for Germany, but I like @mhagdorn's Maultaschen ("God cheaters") idea and Kässpätzle suggested by @AutisticDoctor is an old favourite which sounds like it would go very well with @feinschmeckergarten's Schnuse

Greece -> Feta, spanakopita, greek yoghurt with honey and dried fruits.

Hungary-> ghoulash or paprikash would be obvious here but I also like the idea of @getzlerchem's grandmother's Rakott Krumpli - Hungarian Potatoes made with layers of sliced boiled potatoes, butter, sliced boiled eggs, and sour cream.

Iceland

Ireland -> Initial suggestion of soda bread and black pudding from @ColmDonoghue was changed to colcannon and toasted soda bread in discussions with with @helvick

Italy -> lots of suggestions for Italy (as you might expect) including @dibi58's bagnacauda and @clockwooork's risotto, polenta and farinata which sounds delicious

Kosovo

Latvia

Liechtenstein

Lithuania ->A suggestion from @stadtstreunen_at for Šaltibarščiai which seems to be a kind of borscht

Luxembourg

Malta

Moldova

Monaco

Montenegro

Netherlands -> Pancakes came up a lot, @priscilaaharing's sounds like a good variant, but I'm also considering hutspot as suggested (with recipe!) by @da_kink

North Macedonia

Norway

Poland -> Pierogi were suggested by several people but I also liked the Kolaczki - jam biscuits from #CookTheCup

Portugal -> A suggestion from @telles for Feijoada (bean stew), and the fun sounding Peixinhos da horta, a kind of tempura that I'm told was introduced to Japan by Portugal (sounds plausible).

Romania

Russia

San Marino

Serbia -> Potato Moussaka from #CookTheCup

Slovakia -> Bryndzové halušky - potato dumplings with sheep cheese and bacon from #CookTheCup

Slovenia -> Summer risotto with fresh tomatoes from #CookTheCup

Spain -> Lots of suggestions here ranging from Paella or tortilla (spanish omelette) from @KatS to gazpacho and another cold soup, salmorejo from @KnudJahnke and @ehproque respectively

Sweden -> it has to be the classic meatballs with mashed potatoes, Ikea does an excellent range of vegan meatballs so I'll be nipping down there soon, thanks @AutisticDoctorStruggles for the reminder

Switzerland -> Zürcher Geschnetzeltes and Rösti - Zurich ragout and rösti from #CookTheCup

Turkey -> Several excellent suggestions here. May go with @Aubrieta's suggestions of Imam Bayildi though, a delicious aubergine dish and the Krumpir also sounds good.

Ukraine -> Piroshkis with potato and caramelised onion suggested by @NoTwit, complementing borscht suggested by a few people as well as @DarkPriest's suggestions of Varenyki, Halushki, Borsh, Mlintsi (Ukrainian crepes) and Deruny - Potato pancakes from #CookTheCup

United Kingdom (UK) Bangers (sausages by Linda McCartney vegan) and mash, served in a huge yorkshire pudding with rowan + redcurrant jelly and my famous mushroom and herb gravy. And of course a good pint of ale on the side

Vatican City (Holy See)

This post is a copy of one I put on my personal website. The theme of that is my climate and ice sheet science mostly and this light-hearted exploration of European food culture doesn't exactly fit with the main themes so I decided to set up a new site. I've been wanting to try ghost for a while, and this seems like a perfect opportunity. Let's see if it's time to leave wordpress altogether?