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Yummy Roast corn one of my favourite
Food.....Food
Old people say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Antiguans really believe that. Cooking was always promoted as the only path to true happiness. As a matter a fact the older folks thought you were wotliss(worthless) if you can't turn fungi or if your fungi lumpy. lol
Oh I can cook fungi .. I graduated at the fungi academy in All Saints, Mockpond, Antigua.
Serious though, Food has long played an intergral part in the Antiguan culture.
- The Sunday morning breakfast ---- Salt fish stewed down with tomato paste in your granny's special way. Yummy! You can have this with fungi(fungee) ,chap / chap, chap up (mash troba)---- Special Big Sunday bread, boil egg .. Gurl the smell of stay tea will wake you out of any bed ...
- What about when families use to swap Sunday dinner in their favourite pyrex dish. stew chicken was a favourite with browning gravy)
- When cooking the pot must always have exra just incase somebody drops by .
- What about Bumming---- Sticking around a person house until you finish prepare (lunch /dinner) for they knew they'll be invited to eat. However they will leave soon after when they belly full. Wow! I know some bummers in my life time.
- Saturday Night--- the snacks you bought when you were given a little pocket change ---only on Saturday.
- How about when the man of the house got almost all the (meat -kind) meat and he ate from the very best utensils.eg pyrex
- Fighting over food at a wedding . Wow1 This was usually between the family of the bride and groom. Wait a minute! I witnessed one such fight when the brides' family was packing up everything while the guests starved --- Yea starved for people only went to the weddings for the food. that was an angry bride though . She (hice up) raised her gown and gave the group a tongue lashing . Well she really curse them out . Man people start to put back what they did not bring . LoL - Wow! Wedding The Old Antiguan Way.
- If there was no goat water at the wedding it was ranked as poor. Still true in Antigua ................
The list is not exausted .. Yea! There is more. Hey how about using a bull to make goat water .lol ... You remember who which leader said that?
My country! Our Food ! Our Culture!
Enjoy my poem The Sweetest Food ........ use to come from Antigua
The Sweetest Food
Wha you mean wha me cook?
A cook Antigua's national dish'
Fungee and salt fish?'
Child no give me no back chat
Tonight a cook fungee wid pepperpat
You lickle boy come eat de pepperpat and fungee!
Wash you hand and foot and tank de almighty!
Wha you say you no badda feel hungry,
Only if the national dish a Kentucky?
But coo how this boy so rude,
Soon he will say de national dish is Chinese food
A wha me a hear and a see yaw tarl!
Child eat the pepperpot and fungee before you no ball.
You hear wha dis child just say to me
He say notting sweet ina Pepperpat and fungee.
See long, long, time ago, plenty a are you min small, small,
And dem dey so, no min evens barn
So me no are you dey na go memba,
But de sweetest food does come from Antigua.
Petata dumpling, saltfish and dookuna,
Occro fungi, shad, poopa and anchoba.
Cha-cha just really eat well,
Nyam one bambula, you drink more water dan in a well.
Dem dey, just be some real good dish
Especially stewed chub, doctor or old wife fish.
Den you hab you cabbage, carrot and edda
Yam, roast corn and roast petata.
And if you hab plenty mouth, and you need enough to suit
Man lick up some pepperpot, or some man soup.
And if you want you pickney fu trang, and hab plenty courage
Give dem rice, flour, or cornmeal porridge.
And to meck sure you no hab no lickle sickling
Give dem boil, fry or yabba dumpling.Dem some dey, sweet no man
Green fig and fish water meck you trang.
And when you done nyam all them stuff
You hab sour sop or nounou tea to full you up.
Dat is why I often pray
Please, please bring back dem old time days.
Pepperpot ….A Caribbean Woman's Story… Poems for the stageCopyright © 2007, Fransene Massiah-Headley>>
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