Welcome to The Storied Recipe! I host a unique podcast where every guest gives me a recipe that’s significant to their culture, life, and memories. I make, photograph, and share the recipe with you. I invite you to listen to Kathiana's story as you learn how to make her *delicious* Haitian Squash Soup - Soup Joumou!
I'm going to be brief in my comments on this delicious recipe from Kathiana because I mainly want you to hear about it in HER words. In short, this soup is full of flavor and very, VERY filling. It's full of nutrients from squash (a Haitian pumpkin resembling the butternut squash we can find in the US), cabbage, potatoes, celery, and carrots. I've never once in my life considered including pasta OR plantains in pumpkin soup (!!), but let me tell you - both are a revelation!! According to Kathiana's recipe, you can use any protein of your choice. The thing that makes this Haitian soup even more unique, however, is epis - a Haitian spice blend from parsley, green onion, garlic, bell pepper, and black pepper. Like many recipes from all of our ancestors, there are no proportions given in Kathiana's recipe. It's a list of ingredients that you mix and match to your and your family's taste.
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The Historical Significance of Soup Joumou as a Symbol of Liberation
In her book The Power of the Palate, Kathiana quotes from Kelly Paulemon, author of "Soup Joumou - The Taste of Freedom" on the Visit Haiti website.
In 19th-century Haiti, living conditions for slaves were unspeakably awful. As elsewhere in the world, they were treated brutally, kept enslaved by a combination of gruesome physical treatment and psychological abuse. Slave masters denied these people as much as possible, even seemingly trivial things, especially if those things were associated with the lifestyle of Haiti’s French slave-owning bourgeoise. One tradition that was well established within the bourgeoisie was that of having soup joumou. Some households could afford to make it several times a week, others only on Sundays, but a bowl of soup joumou was never to be seen in the hands or mouths of a slave. This food was not intended for them, as it was too rich, too wholesome, too good . . . . Therefore, in the first years of the 19th century, slaves and free black Haitians led a successful revolution, taking control of the country and instating their own language, their own institutions, and their own customs. As a potent symbol of the abundance that had been denied them for hundreds of years, the newly free population appropriated the food most symbolic of freedom: soup joumou. Independence was officially declared on January 1st, 1804. To celebrate that first New Year’s Day, the people of Haiti prepared, cooked, and shared soup joumou. A delicacy previously forbidden, it was now made available to everyone. More than two hundred years later, the tradition is still going strong.
Furthermore, Kathiana has this to say about her personal experience with Soup Joumou:
Growing up, I never really liked the soup unless there would only be chicken, noodles, carrots, and celery in my bowl. For the dish has several veggies within it, and what kid likes vegetables, not this one. However, the older I got the more I enjoyed the other ingredients within the soup, and I have taken pride of what the soup is and the history that it holds. Moreover, I find that me and my cousins obsess over the soup and try to tell our friends to come over and partake in the goodness of the soup. Now, looking back I have noticed the power in means of influence that the bowl of soup holds: It holds part of my history, culture, past-times fun, tasty bites, and memories.
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Episode Related to This Soup Joumou Recipe
Visit the episode post:
What If We Weren't All Chicken? With Kathiana LeJeune
Follow The Storied Recipe in Your Favorite Player
How to Contact Kathiana LeJeune
Website: https://www.kathianalejeune.org
Instagram: @iam_kathiana
Facebook: @katlouisius
Book: The Power of the Palate: Through the Great Exchange
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Soup Joumou (From Haitian-American Kathiana LeJeune)
8
servings15
minutes2
hours2
hours15
minutesA symbolic Haitian dish eaten every New Year’s Day – based on pumpkin and full of vegetables, protein, pasta, and flavor!
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
Butternut squash
Meat option (turkey, chicken, or beef)
Cow’s foot (optional)
Potatoes
Parsley
Carrots
Green cabbage
Celery
Plantains (optional)
Epis (blend of herbs and spices)
Thin pasta (vermicelli or spaghetti)
Macaroni shells
Vinegar
Lime
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Green onion
Bell pepper (your preference)
Scotch bonnet pepper
Olive oil
Directions
- Prep Process
- The butternut squash is skinned and cut into slices. The other vegetables are then peeled and diced (potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and celery).
- Make your epis complete: Blend parsley, green onion, garlic, bell pepper, black pepper, and olive oil or other cooking oil.
- Clean and season your meat options and cow’s foot (optional) with vinegar and lime, and then add your epis.
- Cooking Process
- The slices of the squash are then boiled in a pot.
- (If you decide to make it with a cow’s foot, pressure-cook it on the side with water close to the rim for about an hour or an hour and a half on medium heat.)
- Then cook your meat option as desired.
- Puree butternut squash and preserve the puree in another bowl or keep it in the blender until you’re ready for the next step.
- In a bigger pot, add cooking oil with carrots, potatoes, plantains, and thyme; once browned add celery and add butternut squash puree with about one to two more cups of water, salt, and scotch bonnet pepper. Once this boils, add the pasta with meat and green cabbage and cook it into deliciousness.
- Feel free to sample and add more spices as desired. Once soup is ready serve it hot. It is usually accompanied with a sliced Haitian bread and either ginger tea or hot chocolate as a beverage.
Notes
- Make sure to listen to Kathiana LeJeune on The Storied Recipe Podcast, “What If We Weren’t All Chicken?” With Haitian-American Kathiana LeJeune while you make her Soup Joumou recipe!
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