Antigua and Barbuda: Fungee and Pepperpot

As I sit here typing, it looks to be 84° F for the next week in Antigua and Barbuda. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? So where on earth are they, and why are they even a nation?

They are in the Caribbean, southeast of the Virgin Islands, near lots of other islands. It’s rather interesting that they are a nation when most of the other islands nearby belong to bigger nations such as the U.S. and the U.K. Lots of lovely beaches about which Lonely Planet says “this improbably shaped splotch of land is ringed with beaches of the finest white sand, made all the more dramatic by the azure waters, which are so clear they’ll bring a tear to your eye or a giggle to your holiday-hungry throat.”

I guess people must like beaches like that because, again quoting the Lonely Planet, “Guitar-picker Eric Clapton, rag-trader Giorgio Armani, huckster scribe Ken Follett and taste-maker for the masses Oprah all have winter homes here.” Must be nice.

It seems that its (their?) location is rather strategic to the U.S. because we have a military presence there, and a satellite tracking station.  Of course, the U.S. presence is probably more because it’s a great place to hang out than because it’s really that strategic. The islands are also a transshipment point for drug trafficking since they are relatively close to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, which perhaps increases the attractiveness for U.S. military personnel

The economy is largely based on tourism, although internet gambling is also very important. The U.S. is very weird about gambling, allowing it on Indian reservations, allowing lotteries in many states, and even allowing casinos in depressed areas such as Blackhawk and Central City. But they hate it when people gamble online, and tried to prevent Antigua and Barbuda from taking money from U.S. gamblers. In 2006 the U.S. passed a law “which criminalises the operations of offshore gaming operators which take wagers from American-based gamblers.” However, the World Trade Organization (WTO) didn’t take kindly to that and ruled against the U.S. Part of the ruling allowed Antigua and Barbuda to ignore its intellectual property obligations to the U.S., which is pretty amazing.

But, on to the meal. Here’s a link to the recipe for Fungee and Pepperpot, the national dish. What a strange dish it is. You’d think that being a Caribbean island the national dish would have lovely fish, but no, it’s claim to fame is pig snout. Well, perhaps that’s not its claim to fame, but snouts are in the ingredient list. As is beef, meat scraps, okra, pumpkin, pawpaw, eggplant, squash, spinach, peas, onions, and ketchup. It’s as if it’s not really a recipe at all, just a matter of putting in whatever is growing in the garden or snuffling around the yard.

Well, I confess that we didn’t use all the correct ingredients. We couldn’t find eddo or pawpaw or pig snouts (not that we tried very hard for the latter), and didn’t much feel like adding pieces of meat, bones and skin. So on the meat we compromised and used pork chops.

The Fungee is strange, basically corn meal and okra. Not being a Southerner I’ve never been particularly fond of okra, finding it rather too slimy for my taste, but boiling okra in water then adding the dampened cornmeal really wasn’t too bad. Not quite like couscous or quinoa or bulghur wheat, but acceptable. Here are the ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 6 okras, cut into small pieces
• 1 tsp salt to taste
• 2 cups corn meal

The Pepperpot was very simple, just a matter of cutting up lots of different things and dumping them in the pot. A very easy meal, although I wouldn’t say that it was one of my favorites. Even though we used only half the quantities listed, we still had enough for three meals – i.e. for 6 people. So it appears that the full recipe would serve 12 people – quite a social event I would say. Here are the Pepperpot ingredients:

• 4 fresh green eddo leaves
• 1 lb antrobers(eggplant), peeled & cut
• 1 lb okras, chopped
• 1/2 lb pumpkin,peeled & cut
• 1 lb salt beef, chopped
• 1 lb pig snout(optional), cut
• 1 lb green papaw, cut
• 3 small squash, cut
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• Vegetable oil
• meat scraps(pieces of meat, bones & skin)
• 4 cloves, cut
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 4 tbsp ketchup
• 4 tbsp margarine
• 1 bunch thyme
• 1 bunch chive
• 1 lb spinach, chopped
• 2 cups fresh greenpeas

Here’s a blog posting by someone who looks as though they made the whole meal, pig snouts and all. Quite impressive.

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