sent from: Esher, Surrey, UK. destination: Bombay, India

Yesterday I discovered a new country – SURINAME. It’s on the South American coast, just north of Brazil. They speak Dutch there, as well as Sranan Tongo, and Surinamese Hindi! The Surinamese dish I tried reminded me of something I might have in the Caribbean, and with their Creole culture this does not seem surprising. Their economy is dominated by mining BAUXITE, on which aluminium is based. To be clear, I did not personally discover it the way one might discover a planet – they had been there for a good long while before I found out about them, and the half a million (!) people there did not need me to discover them. But, now that I know about them, I feel an overwhelming need to visit their country.

We discovered this fascinating new country whilst enjoying Surinamese food at MsMarmites underground Farmer’s Market in North West London. Great food and a bunch of new food discoveries.