An Edible Voyage

October 2019 Copenhagen is one of my favourite cities for sampling craft beer - such variety from some great breweries.   The tartness of seabuckthorn means that Gamma Brewing's Piquant sour ale is a little sour even for my liking, but the Plastic Brain session IPA is easy drinking. From Mikkeller, I loved the idea of the Waffle Breakfast - an oatmeal stout with coffee, cinnamon and maple.  Whilst it was delicious for a mouthful, all of the flavours came through very intensely so I found the whole can somewhat overpowering.  Find these at Tapperiet Brus where you can drink in or take away from their enormous selection of draft beers, cans and bottles.  They also serve food.

The Pantanal is brimming with piranha.  All you need is a fishing rod and a cow heart (or similar) to lure them in...  Fried up, there's a lot of bone and not a great deal of flesh, but the crispy tails are particularly good, and if you caught it yourself it will taste even better!

There is nothing so refreshing as a the cool water from young, green coconuts on a hot day at a Brazilian beach.  Once you have drunk the water, ask the machete wielding stall holder to chop off a piece of the skin and use it to scoop the jelly like flesh for an extra burst of refreshingness. Find them at street stalls.

I love cheese and I love beaches, so for me there is nothing better than people walking up and down the beaches of Brazil with portable BBQs, ready to grill me cheese on a stick.  A little like haloumi, it is salty, squeaky and bendy, and most delicious when it is straight off the coals. Find it at beaches in Brazil.

One of my favourite snacks/ breakfasts/ lunches during my time in Brazil was the Brazilian tapioca.  Made from the starch of the cassava root and cooked to order, it's filled and folded like a crepe.  There are numerous fillings to choose from, my favourite sounding an odd combination, but as soon as i tried it, I was sold.  Salty cheese, nutty coconut and sweet, sticky condensed milk - you have to try it to believe it! Find it at street stalls in the north-east of Brazil.  The best by far is in Olinda old town.  

June 2019 Buttery, flaky filo pastry, stuffed with a creamy, slightly salty mixture of cottage cheese, sour cream and egg, rolled, coiled and baked.  A greasy but tasty and very filling snack - I especially enjoy the texture of the coils. Find it at every bakery - meat and spinach are other commonly found fillings.

June 2019 Cevapi are a popular lunch, dinner or snack.  Small sausages of lamb and beef minced with spices, cooked over a grill and served with copious amounts of raw onions in a warm, soft and fluffy lepinja pita bread.  I found them quite heavy going as they are dense, meaty and salty, and a portion is usually around 10 sausages!  It's also a fairly dry dish, so be sure to wash it down with plenty of beer!  Find it at Konoba Nuno Grill in Jablanica - pull up a plastic chair at one of the plastic tables and mingle with locals outside this no-frills, atmospheric grill bar.

June 2019 If you're looking for a local sweet treat to go alongside your coffee, order yourself a hurmasice - soft, golden biscuits oozing sweet syrup.

June 2019 Alongside the fairly uninspiring Mostarsko Pivo lager, there is quite the craft brewery scene in Mostar.  Kosaca is a black beer which is unexpectedly light and refreshing, not at all syrupy, but with bags of malty, chocolatey flavour. At the OldbridZ Craft Brewery and Brew Shop in Mostar, tasting flights give you ample opportunity for sampling the best of their brews, from the dark Sexy Montenegro, to the Banana Cream Pie wheat beer.     

June 2019 Traditional Bosnian coffee is potent - strong, thick and bitter, served beautifully in a copper dzezva, on a tray with a small ceramic cup, sugar cubes and rahat lokum sweets.  Made using a different process to that of Turkish coffee, place a sugar cube under the tongue to dissolve as the coffee is sipped.  Try it at Cafe de Alma in Mostar, with cosy furnishings and a shady terrace, the friendly staff roast their own beans in their bright yellow 1991 roasting machine, and are more than happy to impart all sorts of interesting information on the coffee preparation process and drinking ritual.  They also serve tempting homemade juices and cordials. Trendy espresso based coffee bars are popping up all over.  At Melody Art Caffe in Konjic, Cejf coffee roasters from Sarajevo make lovely flat whites with their own roasted bean, albeit served a little oddly with a cinnamon grinder, and there's a music space downstairs too.