Categories: uncategorized
Date: 11 October 2009 14:59:11
To Peckham, to party in a church hall after an ordination The newly ordained person is Nigerian, and most of the congregation at St Mary's church seem to be African, so the food was basically West African. As it would be in our church, and I'd guess most CofE churches in inner South London. And as we often find a reason to eat at church I've come to associate Sunday lunch with jollof rice as much as with roast potatoes. Someone once said that the only places in US society where it was normal to see black women in authority over white men were the Army and McDonald's. I doubt if that is true of the British army, or many British takeaways. But it might be the case in the Church of England in South London pretty soon. Half the people our diocese ordains are women - our church is on its second woman vicar already and and four or five women from the congregation have gone to be ordained in the last ten years or so, but no men - and an increasing proportion of them are Africans. No moi-moi this time :-( but various kinds of fried chicken and pots with different sorts of meat and sme beany things abd potatoes and bread and of course lots of spicy jollof rice. And pepper soup. Pepper soup is always an adventure. You never know quite how hot its going to be. Sometimes it is hot, sometimes it is hot, sometimes it is hot, and sometimes it is hot. this one was sort of hot. I don't know how pepper soup is made but if I had to guess from how it tastes I'd say that you start with a whole dead cow, cut it up, bones, guts and all, into chunks about two or three centimetres across and simmer it with bitter leaves and garlic in a large vat of water for a day or two, every now and again throwing in a kilo or so of ground pepper. Today my dollop had a few chunks of tripe and some steak-like bits in it. Previously I've had bits of liver or kidney and what looked like an entire vertebra. Its an aperitif or a flavouring rather than a meal and, apparently, a favourite snack with beer. Sort of like Nigerian equivalent of pork scratchings or jellied eels. I like it. And it makes the jollof taste mild. Great stuff! Memo to self: if you start the day with a badly upset stomach, pepper soup and red wine do not make the best breakfast. I had to rush back home on the 136 praying that it wouldn't get stuck in a jam. Would it be good idea to go to the pub for some jellied eels now? Probably not. Maybe I should just crash out and sleep off the huge heap of rice and beans I with the pepper soup had for lunch.