YAMS.

I grew up eating, Yams, Sweet potatoes, butter beans, kidney beans, black eyes beans, bulla cake, white rice, brown rice, ackee and saltfish, curry goat, beef patty, fried dumplings, hardo, banana fritters, porridge, rice and peas, coconut drops, and many more.   

What I grew up drinking, Camp coffee with evaporated or condensed milk, carrot juice with condensed milk or evaporated milk, stout drink made with condensed milk or evaporated milk, Ovaltine made with evaporated milk or condensed milk, ginger beer, stones ginger wine, at Christmas, with Chery B. and many more.

Most of the food mentioned above I hated! When I was older, I found out a lot of it was healthy.

One of the meals that I was given as a child I hated the most and that was Cow Foot Soup! The cow foot was sticking out of the pot every other Saturday. My brother William and I didn’t eat it, and so it would turn to jelly in our dishes in front of us, it would set! Of course, back then, there was nothing else. It was horrible.

There was also, butter beans with white rice, I hated both. Black eyed beans with white rice, I hated that! I hated kidney beans! We had kidney beans soup every other Saturday.

It wasn’t until I went out with Paul, that I found out that curry goat was made with real goat! I was that shocked I told my brother William he was shocked too.

My favourite food growing up and still is Bun and Cheese. Dome shaped circle bun, sliced, buttered, with soft processed square cheese. Now I have it with normal mild cheese. My favourite drink is stout or carrot juice made with the sweet milk mentioned above and grated nutmeg and grated cinnamon. Heaven in a glass.

We always had the above food and drinks at family events, birthdays, weddings, Church events, anniversaries. As I got older, I started to appreciate the food and like it a bit more. I liked it more, because as I got older and moved away from home, I didn’t eat it often, and so it became nicer. Then after I got married, it because special to me, and my husband and kids, they loved it! I never learnt how to cook any of it, that was my choice. My Mum was an amazing cook, her cooked food, drinks, and cakes were sought after.

Meghan told me yesterday, “I want to go online, to learn how to cook it all.”

Yesterday in Tesco at the reduced vegetable section, something caught my eyes, that I had never seen in this part of the shop before, I picked them both up, they were reduced to 25p each! I looked at them and thought I like them, I put them back and carried on walking around the shop, but I couldn’t get them out of my mind, for 25p each they was very cheap indeed.

I decided to go back and get then, I wondered if they would still be there, I felt sure they would have been snapped up, after I had put them back.

They were still both there! I picked them up and looked at them again.

There is only one way I will cook them and that is fried, I don’t like them boiled.

I was going to have them for breakfast this morning, but because they are still nice and firm, I think I will take them with me when I go to my Mums this Thursday and we can share them.

Paul saw them on the kitchen table, he picked up one and said, “Is this plantain?” I said, “Yes.” I thought how sweet for him to know that, having not grown up with them.

I will slice them at an angle and fry them, for me and my Mum. Or I might mash them up and add them to porridge oats, and do my own version of plantain porridge. I will Google to see, if it is that easy.