Timor-Leste

On a beach in Timor-Leste, lunch is whatever the boats brought in. A Spanish mackerel is rubbed with tamarind, thrown on the coals and served as ikan sabuko, its char cut by budu — a sharp fermented-anchovy relish loosened with lime and raw onion — and a spoon of fiery ai manas chilli on the side. Away from the coast the everyday food is humbler and just as good: batar da'an, a slow stew of corn, mung beans and pumpkin that has fed the hills for generations.

Four centuries as Portuguese Timor left a distinct thread running through the plate — bean stews close to feijoada, terracotta-baked bibingka rice cakes, salt-cod dishes and real Portuguese and Italian tables in Dili, where everything is priced in US dollars. But the country's true pride is its coffee: organic single-origin arabica grown high in the mountains, home to the celebrated Timor Hybrid, and the source of nearly all its non-oil exports. Drink a cup where it grows and you understand why Timorese talk about it the way the French talk about wine.