“Mr and Mrs Paul Wedgwood are joining forces with Relish proprietor Alison Kern (Relish Epicurea located at Limegrove, Barbados) to open a new Relish Fresh Café Warrens and a Relish Dockside café at Port Ferdinand in St Peter.
Alison [said]: “He (Paul) has already delighted my customers with new exotic recipes such as his Hot Soup, based on a Vietnamese recipe for Pho – Bajans have never tasted the like, and it’s flying out the door at lunchtime.” – From the Thursday, January 2, DAILY NATION.
The above extract caught my attention and brought to mind that the battle is not only physical, but psychological.
Furthermore, the mentioning of the Vietnamese-based Hot Soup stirred my passion to speak about the soup of Barbados – Bajan soup with dumplings.
As Barbadians we are always reminded to be patriotic, thus I hope that most of our restaurants are serving Bajan soup with excitement. Equally it is important to serve Bajan soup as part of the free school meals programme that schoolchildren can develop the desired taste and respect for it.
Bajan soup, made popular by our elders, was normally served on Wednesdays. Travelling around the world caused me to know that it is the tastiest soup in the entire world. Moreover, if given the chance, it will “fly” honourably with our flag at international culinary contests.
I remember when I taught food and nutrition, the syllabus always offered students the opportunity to prepare one-pot meals. Preparing Bajan soup was always an eye-opening experience and none was left after serving.
Mention must be made of the whole wheat flour dumplings which normally swim on top the hot liquid with the thyme leaves causing the soup to create its own Bajan uniqueness.
When we examine the ingredients, perhaps we may discover one of the secrets for so many centenarians in Barbados. Its key ingredients are sweet potatoes, yams, breadfruit, eddoes, carrots, christophenes, pumpkin, thyme, onion, dumplings and a protein.
Let us speak about some of the health benefits of Bajan soup by analyzing three of its ingredients:
• Sweet potatoes – support healthy blood sugar levels, treat anaemia, arthritis and kidney and gall bladder ailments, and builds the immune system;
• Pumpkin and carrots – protect against lung and oral cavity cancer, good for cholesterol and weight control;
• Thyme – treats high blood pressure, yeast infections, skin problems and protects against food-borne bacterial infections.
Here in Barbados we must show more love towards Bajan soup. It may not be considered posh, but I pledge allegiance to it. Anyway, I “gine” now and prepare some Bajan okra cou-cou and slush for my husband. Happy New Year!
• Annette Maynard-Watson is a teacher and herbal educator.
DISCLAIMER:?It is not our intention to prescribe or make specific claims for any products. Any attempts to diagnose or treat real illness should come under the direccton of your health care provider.