My Emotional Food Experience

I just had an emotional experience with a bowl of palmnut soup and fufu. If I were a poet, I'd write a sonnet. If I were a singer, I'd sing a ballad. If I were a rapper, I'd bust a rhyme. That was by far the best meal I've eaten since my farewell dinner back in May, when Holly made chicken-veggie burgers and roasted cauliflower. Those chicken burgs were so delicious that I thought I might pass out mid-meal! But this time it actually happened. Tonight, while savoring all the incredible flavors of the fufu and soup, I passed out. Seriously, it was so tasty I fainted, face straight to soup.

Ok, ok, so the passing out part isn't true. But the part about my dinner being a remarkably marvelous meal was very true. Please allow me to describe it more thoroughly.

The base starch of the meal, fufu, was prepared as usual with cassava and plantain. Although a sturdy and reliable base, fufu is far from basic. First, the cassava and plantain are peeled and chopped. Then, the prepared cassava and plantain are boiled together over a fire for approximately 30 minutes. For some reason, the plantain is always layered over the cassava in the pot. Then, the boiled plantain and cassava are pounded with a mortar and pestle. Fufu-pounding is serious business. It is, after all, a two person job. One person sits on a stool and pushes or "drives" the food around the pestle, which is essentially a 40 pound, 1ft high x 2ft diameter flat-bottomed wooden bowl. The other person rhythmically and forcefully pounds the fufu in the mortar with a 5ft long x 3in diameter wooden mortar. The pounding of fufu is no simple task as it takes teamwork (or the driver will lose a digit), strength (the pounder must have excellent upper body strength and cardiovascular stamina), and dedication (the pounding process takes never less than 20 minutes). The plantain is pounded first into a lumpy yellow mass flecked with black seeds. Subsequently, the cassava is pounded into a smooth white mass. Then the two are the pounded together, which results in a smooth, elastic, off-white substance known as fufu. Finally, the fufu is divided and lovingly rolled into softball-sized servings and placed into bowls.

This evening, on top of the fufu was served palmnut soup, which is no less labor intensive than the fufu. First, the bright orangish-red palmnuts are boiled in a large pot for approximately 45 minutes. Palmnuts are similar to dates in size and in that they both possess hard, black, oblong pits. Next, the boiled palmnuts are pounded in a mortar similar to the fufu mortar, only slightly different in shape. While the fufu mortar is low and wide, the palm nut mortar is tall and narrow, at about 2ft high x 1 ft wide. The pestle looks about the same, altough a bit narrower, maybe only 2" in diameter. After the palmnuts are thoroughly pounded, the resulting orange mush is pushed through a sieve with water to remove the seeds, peels, and other tough fibrous parts. The outcome is a thick, perfectly smooth and beautiful orange liquid, which is then boiled for 30 minutes to an hour. Next, a much smaller clay mortar is used to grind together tomatoes, onions, garlic, and hot red peppers, which results in something like super spicy, smooth salsa. In the meantime, beef is chopped into ~1ounce chunks and red onion is finely diced. The beef, onions, and a bit of water are cooked together briefly in a small pot. At last, the ground tomato-pepper mixture along with the cooked beef and onions are added to the palmnut soup and cooked together for another 30 minutes. A generous pinch of salt is added for flavor. In the last few minutes of cooking, a few handfuls of flat mushrooms are tossed into the soup.

Finally, the food is ready to be served, soup carefully ladled over fufu.

And that –fufu with palm nut soup, mushrooms, and beef – ladies and gentlemen, was my incredible, delectable dinner.

Prep time: 2 hours. Eat time: 2 minutes.

Love, Betsy