Pepper pot is a thick spicy soup first created on December 29, 1777, during the Revolutionary War. Africa and the Caribbean before being brought to North America through slave trade and made into a distinctively Philadelphian dish by colonial Black women.
Thereafter armies were running low on food and morale, so their cook, gathered whatever food he could scrounge up in the countryside, and made pepper pot soup.
Pepperpot is a rich meat stew that gets its signature dark color from cassareep, a thick "caramel" or reduction sauce made from cassava extract. It is traditionally eaten with bread (preferably homemade plait bread) and I refuse to eat it without it. Lol
pepper pot (plural pepper pots) A small container with a perforated top used for sprinkling ground pepper. A soup made of tripe, vegetables and dumplings, seasoned with pepper. (figurative) A person who is hot tempered; a feisty or argumentative person.
Typically, Guyanese people eat pepperpot on or around Christmas. It's not uncommon to wait about 2 to 3 days before diving in. This gives the seasoning extra time to seep into the stew. The people of Antigua and Barbuda also enjoy pepperpot as part of their national dish.
Pepper Pot soup started as an African stew. It followed the path of the slave trade to the West Indies and to the Atlantic coast of North America. Like many African dishes, the exact ingredients varied depending on what was available. Pepperpot is a South Amerindian-derived dish popular in Guyana. It is traditionally served at Christmas and other special events and I should know this, I look forward to this dish every year.
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