Freedom Soup is one of our favorite books for Black History Month, an immigrant story about Haiti and multi-generational cooking with family and friends!
“Freedom Soup” is Soup Joumou, eaten on January 1, celebrating independence of Haiti in 1804.
The key soup ingredient is pumpkin, called “joumou” in Haitian Creole.
The people of Haiti were enslaved since the 1500s, they worked growing sugarcane, coffee and vegetables such as pumpkin to make soup for their masters. But Haitians were forbidden to eat pumpkin!
In this picture book, Belle and her grandmother Ti Gran are making soup. Dancing and singing, they chop vegetables, while Ti Gran tells the history of slaves fighting for freedom in Haiti.
Starting in 1791, the slaves revolted against the French to win back their freedom.
“I see the colors of freedom, the tan streets of Port au Prince, covered in broken black chains, kettles of hot yellow soup, a sweet pumpkiny-garlic aroma filling the air.
I see Ti-Gran’s people. My people.
Eating soup to celebrate the end of slavery.
Eating soup to celebrate the start of freedom.”
After Belle and Ti-Gran finish the soup, the extended family starts to arrive, they share stories about Haiti far away, and “celebrate until the last drop of soup is gone.”
Captivating illustrations, soup recipe, put on some music and cook to the beat!
Freedom Soup
by Tami Charles and Jacqueline Alcantara
Freedom Soup recipe
After reading this book, I’ve always wanted make the soup, so this weekend we did, and it’s delicious.
We started with the recipe included in the book, and made some changes for our version, see Notes.
Epis
This is a spice blend with peppers, garlic and herbs.
2 scallions coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 red pepper, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
1 green pepper, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
¼ tsp dried thyme
½ cup chopped cilantro
½ cup chopped parsley
2 celery stalks coarsely chopped
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup lime juice
1 tsp vinegar
Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender.
Pour over meat to use in the soup.
Marinate meat for 4 hours, up to 24 hours.
Tip: If using 1 pound of meat, make half marinade recipe.
Soup
1 – 2 lbs beef chuck, cut into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
8 cups of stock (beef, chicken, vegetable)* see note
2 cups pureed squash (pumpkin, butternut)*
½ tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 large potato (or two smaller ones), cut into bite size cubes
2 large carrots, cut into bite-size pieces
½ small green cabbage, shredded
Handful of elbow macaroni, or other small pasta shape*
Cook the meat
Scrape off Epis marinade.
Put olive oil in heavy soup pot, brown the meat in batches.
Add 8 cups of water, and 5 tbsp of Epis marinade to the pot.
Cook the meat until tender, 1 ½ to 2 hours or more.
Remove meat from the stock.
Note: This is about 4 cups of stock, optionally, you can use in the soup.
If using. strain stock, skim off the fat with a grease separator, or chill over night in fridge to remove fat.
Prepare the squash
Three options for squash:
– Fresh pumpkin or butternut squash
– Frozen butternut squash (follow cooking directions on package, then puree)
– 2 cups canned pumpkin puree
Note: Recipes to roast fresh butternut squash or pumpkin.
Roast butternut squash
Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheet with non-stick foil. Peel, take out seeds, slice butternut squash into thin slices. Put slices in large bowl, add some olive oil, salt and pepper, mix up slices to coat with oil.
Lay slices on baking sheet, bake 20 – 30 min. until slices are fully cooked. Puree in food processor.
Roast pumpkin
For roast pumpkin, cut in half, remove seeds, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, put on foil lined baking sheet cut side down. Roast in 400 degree oven, roast 30 minutes (or more) until pumpkin halves are soft. Scoop out pumpkin and puree in food processor.
Make the soup
In deep soup pot, add 8 cups of beef, chicken or vegetable stock, bring to a boil.
Tip: If you have 4 cups stocks from cooking the beef, add 4 cups of canned beef stock, to make 8 cups.
Put cooked meat, pureed squash, potatoes, thyme, parsley, cilantro in the soup pot. Turn heat to medium, so soup is bubbling but not too high. Cook for 15 min.
Add carrots and shredded cabbage. Cook for 30 minutes or more, until all the vegetables are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Last step, add a handful of pasta into the soup. We had some thin egg noodles, so we tossed those in. Any pasta shape is fine, but should fit on a soup spoon.
Tip: Adding in the pasta will thicken the soup as pasta cooks. If soup gets too thick, just add water to make right consistency.
Serve soup piping hot.
Tip: Putting in a Scotch bonnet pepper during cooking the soup is an option. Instead, just before serving, we drizzled Siracha hot sauce to taste into the soup pot.
Freedom Soup is very timely, as last Monday more than 350,000 Haitians immigrants were about to be deported from the United States. A ruling by Judge Ana Reyes upheld Haitian protected status, for now.
Today Haitians legally living in the United are under attack by Trump administration, people who want to expel all immigrants from the United States.
The president, vice president, government officials, cabinet members are racist and rabidly anti-immigrant, their public statements concerning Haitians are appalling.
In 2024, both Trump and JD Vance claimed Haitian migrants in Springfield Ohio were eating cats and dogs – people’s pets. Vance later admitted he lied, but said it was necessary due to an immigration crisis (also not true).
Haitians come to the United States under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program that allows refugees from disaster-stricken countries to immigrate and work legally. TPS holders are in the workforce at 94% and generate billions in taxes each year.
Commander-in-Chief George Washington wrote in 1783: “America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions.” It’s clear Secretary Noem and Stephen Miller didn’t get the message.
Noem claims immigrants are “flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.” Not only is this not true, Haitians in Springfield are now living in fear that ICE is coming next to their city.
Bad Bunny, Puerto Rican superstar, called out hate-filled anti-immigrant discrimination at the Grammy Awards – “We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens, we’re humans, and we are Americans.”
So, get cooking, make a batch of Freedom Soup. This soup isn’t a legacy from the past, it’s a recipe for the present, right now.
Contact your congressional representatives, tell Congress to stop unlawful persecution and deportations of immigrants and American citizens by ICE, Kristi Noem, and Stephen Miller.
