The More I Think I Know

Every since I can remember, I have been using a myriad of produce in my soups to add flavor, texture, and depth. Most of these produce are not attractive-looking foods. Neither are they easy to select and, depending on where you are from, they have different names.  Chayote in Hispanic countries, for example, is called cho cho in Jamaica. Boniato in Hispanic cultures is called sweet potato in Jamaica. Yucca in Hispanic cultures is cassava in Jamaica. Other examples of these produce are white yam, yellow yam, Dasheen, baboo, jicama… I could go on and on. 

I grew up referring to these produce simply as "food."  This is further validated when people of Caribbean descent visit Soup Up’s stand to buy soup and make their request loud and clear: Donna, make sure you put lots of food in my soup.  Most notably was the United States Attorney General Eric Holden who just had to have some of our delicious red beans soup. Being Bajan (his father and maternal grandparents are from Barbados), he quickly nudged me to include lots of red beans and “food” in his 16 oz serving.  The term food is as familiar to me as the air I breathe.  However, to make it palatable to a broader audience, I often refer to the food I put in my soups as "carbs" especially when my customers ask me to identify something that looks like an American potato but doesn't taste like one.  I often respond it’s “West Indian Food.”  Sometimes, I share the actual name of the food only to be met with, “really…what’s that.  It tastes so good!”

I learned the other day -- thanks to my dear friend, Ms. Edna -- that the correct terminology for these starchy products is ground provisions.  Ground Provisions! According to Wikipedia -- and Ms. Edna concurs -- Ground Provisions are tubular root vegetables that are sheathed in the ground during growth and when harvested, they are dug up from the soil. Fresh Ground Provisions always have some soft bits of soil on them.

Sweet potatoes (labeled yams in the United States), Cassava (yucca), Eddoes, Tania, and Yams—yellow, white, and purple, are root vegetables or Ground Provisions eaten daily in a variety of preparations.  Sometimes they are boiled and sliced and served with meat or vegetables.  In the Caribbean, they are used more often than rice and are considered the main carbohydrate of the meal.

More reading of this verified what I already knew. Ground Provisions, particularly it is used in cuisine in the Caribbean has African influence. Nigerian Foo-foo for example, which is boiled, pounded ground provisions made into balls, is usually eaten with soups and stews.  Metagee, a Guyanese cuisine made up of ground provisions cooked in coconut milk, tomatoes, onion, hot peppers, and palm oil can trace its origins to Africa. Here in America, specifically, the nation’s capitol, I slice and dice my ground provisions to put in my soups. Nothing is added to them and they are not grounded or pounded upon to make another dish.

So, I began my blog by saying, the more I think I know; the more I realize how much I don’t know and I stand by that 100%.  But here is what I do know: Ground Provisions are part of the reason why my soups stand apart from the other soups out there.  Ground Provisions are as close to farm-to-the-table or natural eating that you will ever enjoy. And whether it is called food or ground provisions –which I will use from now on -- it’s nutritious and tastes amazing in my soups.