Perhaps you were waiting for this. When you travel you have to eat, and when it’s six countries there is bound to be a variety of cuisine.
Homemade Mushroom Quiche and salad outside the town of Tofta on Gotland, Sweden.
One night, as Andrea and I lay awake in bed after a five hour hike and dinner at a local diner, we discussed our culinary experiences. The conversation went something like this:
Mark: ‘What do you think are the most interesting foods we’ve eaten?’
Andrea: ‘I really liked the food in Prague. What do you think?’
Mark: “I thought the all-you-can-eat sushi in Regensburg was really good value.’
Andrea: ‘How would you rate the countries we visited for their food?’
Mark: ‘Well it depends upon whether we think about value or variety or the food being unusual and different.’
Andrea: ‘Which countries would you say had the most interesting food?’
Mark: ‘Well I think Switzerland comes last. Most of their dishes are ham and cheese, and we had those kinds of foods in Germany, Czechia and Poland.’
Andrea: ‘There were great bakeries in every country, especially in Switzerland, and they were all different.’
Mark: “Yes, the bakeries were all great.’
Espresso and bakery confections as an afternoon snack in Hamburg.
Andrea: ‘Which countries do you think had the best food?’
Mark: ‘Well I think the best variety was either Czechia or Germany.’
Andrea: ‘That Georgian restaurant in Lodz Poland was good too. The one with the contemporary black and white decor and the fusion menu.’
Mark: “Yes, but I think that the Polish food was mainly pork — we hardly saw any Polish cows, and the ones we saw looked skinny.’
Andrea: ‘The Swiss cows were all very happy and well fed, waving their tails, flapping their ears and tinkling their cowbells.’
Mark: ‘That’s why the Swiss are famous for their chocolate and Swiss cheese because they have happy cows that give sweet milk.’
Ice cream in Krakow, Poland. Did they use Swiss milk to make the ice cream?
Andrea: ‘I like the Swiss cows, they all look so contented. So which countries do you think had the best food?’
Mark: ‘Not Norway or Sweden. But Sweden had more variety than Norway. They had Swedish Meatballs as well as raw herring.’
Andrea: ‘Yes Norway was salmon, smoked salmon, fish cakes, fish pudding, trout and Norwegian herring.’
Mark: “Five varieties of raw herring. I liked the raw herring.’
Everywhere in Norway you can buy pickled raw Herring and Salmon.
Andrea: ‘So where do you think had the best food?’
Mark: ‘Well I suppose the most variety was in Czechia. They had roast duck and goulash and mushroom risotto, as well as 12 hour cooked pork belly, pork knuckle, pork neck and beef steaks.’
Andrea: ‘I had vegetable moussaka in Prague.’
Mark: ‘And we also shared a grilled kebab. That was Prague too wasn’t it?’
Andrea: ‘Yes, that was in Prague.’
Mark: ‘Did you say that the best food was in Prague?’
Roast duck topped with baked garlic slices, and Dumplings in duck sauce … in Prague.
We didn’t meet this Prague person, in person, in Prague, but we think she would agree with Andrea that Czechia food is the best.