Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Potcakes and Pigs Feet

Potcakes

In the Bahamas they have a "species" of dog called a Potcake that are essentially feral mutts that belong to no one in particular, roaming the streets. They somehow manage to all look about the same, eventhough they are clearly a mixed breed.

The reason theses dogs are called "Potcakes" is because Bahamian women, generally keeping a pot of pigeon peas and rice cooking on the stove, would find a layer caked onto the bottom of their pots that was unfit for human consumption. This they would give to the dogs.

This must still be the case to some extent inasmuch as when you meet a Potcake they are usually quite friendly and are not hanging about begging for food as one might expect.

Potcakes
The girls befriended a pair of female potcakes that hung around with us for a few days. They looked like littermates and were affetionate. We were careful not to feed them and they literally just walked with us and sat with the girls and let them pet them. One night, they even slept on the dock by our boat and were there in the morning wagging their tails like they were "our" dogs.

They walked with Julie and I to breakfast that morning (for which I had a bowl of "stew fish" - basically boiled Grouper head and backbone in a gravy sauce, and yellow grits - which I had never seen before).

As we walked towards this feast, we did see the potcakes misbehaving. Chasing certain cars that must have wronged them at some point and sometimes barking at bicyclists. Apparently we eventually entered another set of potcakes' territory (they appeared to be male) and ours got sort of skittish and were nowhere to be seen when we came out of the restaurant.

Pigs Feet

The "stew fish" was so delicious that we decided to return the following morning. This time I selected "Pigs Feet Souse" which turned out to be not quite as good as the stew fish (big surprise) but still tasty. I think they basically boil pickled pigs feet in broth with lemon juice and salt. Probably an acquired taste for most, but I liked it immediately and ate it all up - together with my yellow grits. Truly a Bahamian dish if ever there was one.

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