I've been reading blog posts about Georgian food lately, and their cuisine and food practices and ingredients seem interesting and somewhat different from those of other countries. A lot of use of walnuts, for example, not just to eat as nuts, but in the form of paste added to various dishes. Also a lot of use of greens and herbs.
culinarybackstreets.com and roadsandkingdoms.com are the sites on which I've been reading that stuff, plus after that, googled some more for Georgian food blogs, etc.
I forget which region of Italy it originates from, but there is a wonderful walnut, sage and rosemary pesto, which is quite unusual if you're only used to the basil and pine nut variety.
culinarybackstreets.com and roadsandkingdoms.com are the sites on which I've been reading that stuff, plus after that, googled some more for Georgian food blogs, etc.