Celebrate Haitian Independence Day: Soup Joumou

[lapucelle]

Ending a year of tragedy, one historic Haitian soup welcomes 2022 with new recognition

The United Nations cultural agency, or UNESCO, added the soup joumou — the Caribbean nation's symbol of freedom from slavery — to its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list this month. The bright, beloved yellow dish was once exclusively reserved to slave owners, but Haitian people took ownership of the soup upon gaining independence from France in 1804.

Haitian families across the world will gather around the delicacy Saturday morning, marking Haiti's Independence Day on Jan. 1. This year they will do so around the first cultural item from Haiti to ever receive this global designation.

But it already held deeper meaning.

"This soup means everything," said Dominique Dupuy, Haitian ambassador to UNESCO and chief proponent of Haiti's entry to the global cultural organization, to NPR just days after the designation. "The soup is not so much about what it tastes like, although it tastes delicious. It's a velvety, bright yellow, very tasty soup. It's a vehicle of all the Haitian heritage. We call it the bowl of freedom.

"During the colony, the soup was prepared by slaves for hundreds of years. And they could never taste it because they were deemed too uncivilized. So on the day of independence, the first emperor of Haiti has his wife stand up and declare that this is now the national soup of the first free Black people in the history of humanity."

https://www.lohud.com/story/life/2021/12/30/haitian-soup-joumou-gains-new-recognition-same-deep-history/9028205002/

[malaise]

1. K & R

Haitians were the first free African people in the Western Hemisphere - not in the history of humanity.,

[lapucelle]

3. That's true, but the proud hyperbole is understandable, especially if that part of the story

is 200+ years old.

Enslaved cooks in Haiti were instructed to feed the leftover soup to the animals on the plantations rather than to the other enslaved people in the household. How mean and evil.

[malaise]

4. Agree

The soup part is accurate

[Cairycat]

2. Here is a link to a recipe

with both a stove top and Instant Pot version. Looks tasty, will have to try.

https://www.savorythoughts.com/soup-joumou-haitian-squash-soup/

[lapucelle]

5. Thanks for sharing that recipe.

[jmbar2]

6. That looks delicious! Bookmarked.