eatWashington

It may be sacrilege to say so, but I did have a moment's wonder at Julie Powell dedicating a whole year to cooking out Julia Childs. Life is surely too short. But I admired her staying power. Most cookbooks contain only a handful of recipes you actually want to tackle - though heaven forfend that I should level this criticism towards Mastering the Art of French Cookery.

Anyway, here's someone who really slackened my jaw. Meet Todd Wilbur, who spends his time to trying to recreate food made by the industrial giants. He wants to cook Krispy Kremes just like the factory. He wants to clone Big Macs, Yoo Hoo chocolate drinks, and dozens more junk foods, to taste just like the real (or unreal) McKoy.

Americas & Caribbean

Do you know the difference between Memphis and Texas barbecue? How to crack a Chesapeake crab, and where to get the best corned beef hash? Maybe you're curious to know what chocolate was first used for, or want to learn what should be done with adobo. Have a salteña with a strong Cuban cordito and take the plunge.

Asia to Australasia

You want to switch to eco cling-wrap? Banana leaves are the aluminum foil of South East Asia. Durian is the region's love-it-hate-it fruit. Congee is a Chinese breakfast you might wonder at. They may all be unfamiliar or even seem alarming. So bite instead into soft toro sashimi or spoon into an Australian passion fruit and float away on a striking taste trip. Whatever you're willing to sample, you've got to try a bowl of Vietnamese Phô. It will change your view of soup.

Britain & Ireland

Afternoon tea, Marmite on toast, a big bang-up Irish fried breakfast. This is the Blighty and the Eire of nostalgia, Evelyn Waugh and poet John Betjeman, along with clotted cream, ginger beer, mature Cheddar - and Bird's Custard on your apple pie if you insist. It's all so comforting, and Nanny will let us have seconds if we're very good.

Far East & Africa

That morning cup of java can jump-start the day. But did you know that when the Ethiopians first discovered coffee, they didn't drink it, they chewed it for the caffeine buzz? Try a kola nut and feel a cold wind blast through your cheeks instead. Buy a banana flower for a supper salad that isn't Caesar's. It all carries you away to the other side of the world.

Far North

A hunk of Polish kielbasi with a sour pickle. Warm pierogis made to a babushka's recipe. Then an ice cream, a Gorky Park-favorite of Muscovites in winter walking alongside the seven foot-high snow drifts. Or perhaps you'd prefer a dollop of caviar on Bardavinski bread. Not from the Caspian - that caviar is running out, but American spoonbill caviar. American sturgeon were so prolific in 19th-century New York, their black eggs stood in for peanuts in every bar. It all makes a picnic fit for Czars and Bolsheviks, comrades and citizens.

France

A flaky croisssant to go with monsieur's chicory-flavored café au lait? And for lunch, madame, you are proposed a Salade Gésiers (okay, so that's a 'confit' of gizzards but it's très delicious) followed by a free-range-egg omelette of fines herbes you grew in your window box and a glass of Pomerol from your new favorite wine store.  Monsieur et Madame can be as French as La Marseillaise.

Greece & the Middle East

The best pistachios in town - sprinkled with rock salt and roasted in lemon juice - are so hard to resist. But nibble a couple while you consider a different kind of feta for your next horiatiki salad. Or decide which flatbread to roll around those grilled lamb sausages you'll sprinkle with dried mountain herbs and smother in thick tzadziki. Don't forget the Egyptian community's recipe for mango mousse with pillowy Persian almond macaroons. Kali orexi! Bil haná wal shifá! Good eating!

Mediterranean

Have you discovered how different olives are one from another? Or coaxed dried salt cod into a creamy bacalao? How long does it take for Parma or Serrano ham to cure? (As much as four years for the best) and how many liters of genuine balsamic vinegar are released for sale each year? Grab a slice of Manchego cheese or dip your spoon into fresh ricotta (how do they make that stuff?) while you consider how easy it is to bring the Mediterranean into your kitchen without getting your feet wet.

Northern Europe

Have you tried each one of the best beers from Belgium and Germany? Or pilsners from the Czech Republic? Don't they go so well at the end of the day with slices of kassler, Polish kielbasi or slivers of smoked fish? Then there's that Black Forest Cake glistening temptingly next to those marzipan cookies...The only thing missing is a breeze off the meandering Danube.