“We found everyone we worked with who had interesting insights into the soup, what it means to them and their story,” Valencia said. “These soups define who they are, and I don’t think a dish defines people as much as soup does. They are ambassadors for their country and they want to represent that with their food.”
Chin added that no other food evokes home like soup does. “We wanted to do a book about Irish immigration; how to comfort yourself when you’re away from home and trying to make a home in a different place. Soup is the best way to do that.”
For Valencia, Chin and Laffan, choosing a favorite recipe from the collection was easy: they selected a recipe that simultaneously sparked favorite memories, a love of potatoes and an invocation of comfort.
Ajiaco is a Colombian soup made with chicken, corn, and three types of potatoes. It is a typical Bogotá dish but largely unknown outside of Colombia. Valencia got to know and love it by living there. Laffan and Valence had the privilege of eating freshly made ajiaco at the official residence of Colombia’s Ambassador to Ireland, HE Mrs. Patricia Cortés Ortiz.
Valencia had mentioned to a friend working at the Colombian embassy that she would like to do something around ajiaco, “thinking she would say that this food was prepared by the chef”, remembers Valencia. “Instead, she said it was the ambassador’s dish and she cooked it all the time.”
For Laffan, being cooked and served in the ambassador’s house added layers of understanding to the dish that the words of the recipe alone could not express.
“To see how carefully she prepared the soup and explained the ingredients, how much she enjoys shopping for hard-to-find ingredients – something so many immigrants go through to find their taste here,” she said. declared. “We sat down to eat with her husband, and on the table were beautiful hand-woven Colombian placemats and traditional blue and white crockery. It reminded me so much of the soups I make, or that I had eaten. Ajiaco contains three different potatoes – in a way, it couldn’t be more Irish. This wonderful soup unites us.
As Her Excellency prepared her soup, Valence enjoyed a moment watching this high-ranking woman cook, proud to share her soup with others. The recipe was that of the ambassador’s mothers, passed down to her, imbued with traditional flavors that reminded her of home cooking in Colombia. She was able to source Colombian potatoes, and a specialist grower called Singing Frog Gardens based near Bantry in West Cork was growing guasca (a popular herb in Colombia) sending her clusters to Dublin.
“I thought, what a wonderful woman to see how she’s not afraid to do this, she has her skills and her heritage,” Valencia said. “And then the conversations – the same conversations we all have around soup; talking about family memories, how it was cooked for them when they were growing up. Through the experience of writing SOUP, I recognize that women are behind our best food memories, and we don’t give them enough credit for that.”
Soup crosses cultures and classes. It is the food of the house; the home language, and something we can all rally around, no matter where we come from or who we are.
