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Two events, 24 countries and 225 recipes later, we’re back with the 2011 edition of FOODalogue’s virtual Culinary Tour Around the World.  I know those stats cover a pretty wide swipe around the globe, but there are still places with interesting cuisines to be discovered…and we’re off in search of them.

If you’re new to the event, here’s the back story…

I’ve been fortunate to have done a good amount of travel in my life. However, shortly after returning from another wonderful trip to Spain in 2008, the stock market and the economy took a sharp dive. Once again I was fortunate. My income was affected but it wasn’t totally lost and my home is mine. However, I thought it prudent to hunker down and hang tightly onto the purse strings for a while. So I decided to do some armchair travel.

On January 1, 2009 I announced that I was going to fictionalize my dream trip to travel around the world. I would challenge myself to explore different cuisines and cultures and share my experiences with readers. Being a new blogger at the time, I took a big leap and invited other bloggers to “meet me” in each location. I wasn’t sure how many people were reading FOODalogue or even cared about such an event. Ultimately, I was delighted with the number of talented bloggers that actually showed up with a dish – and often a story. [Especially since there was/is no prize at the last stop -- just the satisfaction of participating, meeting new bloggers, getting new readers and the personal challenge of learning about world cuisines.]

The journey was often challenging but always educational — and frequently funny. Bloggers and readers enjoyed it equally so I’m happy to host the event one more time. I look forward to what my old travel-mates and new blogging friends will bring to the party.

Here’s a few funny scenes.

(You can click on any photo and be transported to blog post or use links below to see all posts in both events.)

In 2009, we visited Norway, Poland, Germany, France, Portugal, Romania, Ethiopia, Russia, India, The Philippines, Mongolia, Peru and the U.S.A and provided about 130 recipes for readers. Since everyone had such a good time, we did it again in 2010 and this time we took it ‘south-of-the-border’ with stops in Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico. An additional 95 recipes were showcased in that event.

The itinerary I picked for 2011 is (drum roll please) Panama, Alaska, Turkey, Japan, Thailand, Egypt and Nigeria. I hope you’ll join me when embarkation begins in January 2011 (schedule to follow towards end of year).

Event Details. I’m going to stick with last year’s theme of ‘cook’s choice’. So, it’s up to you what you cook and present on your blog.

• Traditional: make one of the country’s national or traditional dishes.
• Contemporary: take a traditional recipe and contemporize  it.
• Or, using the flavors and techniques of the country we are visiting, create your own recipe.

A final itinerary and event information will be posted towards the end of the year. Meantime, you can start researching the various cuisines. If you’d like to see full posts from past events, click here and here.

As an aside, it’s interesting to see how many of us have grown as bloggers from the first event to the second and it fills me with excitement to see what what 2011 will bring.

Addendum. Travel may seem frivolous to some but it’s really been an important component of my life and an undeniable source of pleasure. I sucked it up when I had to but, happily, that hiatus is over. In 2010, I was able to resume travel and made trips to Puerto Rico, Jamaica, New York, South America and San Francisco. You can take a peek into some of my travel under the Meandering Meals section of FOODalogue.

Lastly, this is the final lap of A Culinary Around the World. Don’t miss the trip!