In my position as a professional flâneur, I sometimes stumble across interesting stuff. A life of loafing can be informative, illuminating, instructive, and entertaining.
For example, I watched a YouTube video a few days ago (more than one, actually, but one in particular stood out); it is entitled “How to Make Fufu & Light Soup with Peanut & Goat.” It is home-movie quality, with the narrator (talking with a very strong British accent) while his mother, who has what I gather is a Ghanaian accent, tells him how to make the soup. Aside from the video, the description includes a full listing of the ingredients:
- Onions
- Scotch bonnet peppers
- Jumbo cube seasoning
- Garlic granules
- Pig tail
- Rib of goat meat
- Dried Catfish
- Fresh sea bass (or tilapia)
- Tomato puree
- Lamb intestines
- Peanut butter
- Ginger
- One Liver (of any kind)
- Lobster and enoki mushrooms
As I was watching the video, it was interesting to hear the guy’s comments during the process: “this is stinky,” “the soup is going through puberty,” “we’re leading it to adulthood.”
I am relatively certain I would be unable to buy all the ingredients for Fufu & Light Soup with Peanut & Goat in Hot Springs. Their availability in Little Rock might be a bit iffy. The only thing about the list of ingredients that really stumped me was the Jumbo Cube. Thanks to Google, though, I found them. The thing is, the guy’s video does not explain what kind of Jumbo Cube he’s using. According to the Jumbo website, the company makes several versions of (what I believe to be soup stock) cubes: shrimp, onions-spices, chicken, tomato, and a “generic” Jumbo cube (which may be what the guy is using).
I learned, through a bit more reading, that Jumbo debuted in the late 1970s in Sierra Leone. According to one source I found, Nestlé produces Jumbo cubes in Côte d’Ivoire (and perhaps other places).
Until I realized Jumbo has U.S. distribution through A& K Global Foods Inc. in Maryland, I figured it would be impossible for me to get my hands on some. I found a phone number (202-521-1493) which I will try tomorrow. I suspect there are plenty of alternatives to the products made by the Jumbo brand, but I tend to want to use the stuff used by the originators of the recipe. Incidentally, the guy in the video probably bought his Jumbo from a U.K. source; Jumbo does have U.K. distribution.
The other challenging elements of the recipe (which is not really a recipe; it’s more of an ingredient list with modest guidance as to amounts) are the dried catfish, lamb intestines, pig tail, and goat meat. Goat shouldn’t be hard to find, but I don’t know where to look nearby. I think the African and Caribbean and Mexican markets in Little Rock might be the best bets. But lamb intestines? I don’t know.
There’s nothing else urgently requiring my time and energy at the moment, so I will continue to engage in my flânerie by wandering aimlessly into the internet’s back alleys.
