The Netherlands is most famous for its windmills, tulips and Edam and Gouda cheeses, but there is much more to Dutch culture and cuisine as Elisabeth Luard discovers.

Elisabeth Luard travels further north to Sweden, where she finds out about the lives of those living in the forests and on small holdings before finding out about those famous elements of Nordic cuisine, the different ways of using fish and the famous smörgåsbord.

The Slovaks retain their tradition of the senior  matrons of the community educating the young girls through singing and play acting.Elisabeth Luard's time among the Slovaks starts with the ceremony, traditions and foods for welcoming a new baby into the community. She spends time watching a traditional puppet show in a basement theatre in town, before going back to the countryside for a village wedding.

The Black Forest in southern Germany, famous for its gateau and cuckoo clocks, is actually a land of small farmers and foresters. Like traditional rural communities everywhere, nothing is wasted.In this episode, Elisabeth Luard is shown how to make the regional onion tart, apple tart and also spätzle by both the traditional method and a more modern way.

Hungary is associated in people's minds with goulasch, though it is more properly called paprikas. Elisabeth Luard spends time with different ethnic groups, the Magyars—descendents of nomads who still practise their horsemanship—and the Swabians before spending time in Budapest. 

Elisabeth Luard spends time in Friuli among the Friulani, who have preserved their linguistic and cultural identity through centuries of war and invasion as the plateau has provided access to the wealth of the plains of northern Italy to the many forces who have invaded Italy throughout history.