Most Jamaicans refuse to identify with or fail to acknowledge any kind of soup, if it doesn’t equate to, or fall under the traditional umbrella. Meaning, it has to be laced with pumpkin with the distinguished yellowish pumpkin color or base. Other traditional Jamaican choices for soups, includes but is not limited to, Peas soup (cooked with red kidney beans or pigeon/gungo peas), Pepper Pot soup (which includes some kind of greens, usually callaloo), Goat Head Soup also referred to as Manish Water, and Fish tea/soup.

Where food is concerned, I am not the average Jamaican. It doesn’t take much to evoke my uniqueness. It is as simple as this: Station me in a kitchen with a stove, a few ingredients, and command me to cook. My God given talent will begin to shine. You probably hear me say this all the time, whenever I am in the kitchen: “My creative juices begins to flow.”  I become so “out there” and far fetched, that I amaze myself at times.

Matter of fact, I don’t even consider myself an average human. I have my own crazy qualities and I like it that way. The average Jamaican would never ever out of the blue thin air fathom adding cabbage to their soups.
Why? It isn’t customary. Our parents never prepared it that way. We have never witnessed them in the act of preparing soups with cabbage.
On the other hand…Calaloo? Yes.
Cabbage?  No.
Now if you were raised in Jamaica or have Jamaican background and you have had cabbage soup via your Jamaican parents, you are an exception and I wish I had known you years ago, so that you could have introduced me to this soup because it is….let me get Jamaican for a minute….It Maaaaddddddd!!!!!!!!!!!! Mi seh..IT TUN UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I added some pork neck bones for flavor. You can add chicken and their bones or whatever your special preference is. You can even omit the meat if you want to. I personally enjoy my soups with bones. Bones provide depths of flavor that I can only describe as: priceless!. Always Keep in mind: the flavor is in the bones. Besides the bones, and the dumpling…and you know I can’t have soup without dumplings; if you prefer whole wheat dumplings, go right ahead. Whole wheat doesn’t agree with me. I have tried the whole wheat flour and have come to the realization, that it exacerbate my endometriosis pains. Now as I was saying…besides the pork neck bones and the dumplings, everything else included in this cabbage soup is a vegetable.

I am quite sure that in other regions of the world, cabbage soup is probably a delicacy and only eaten on special occasions. It may as well be an everyday occasion for some folks. I mean, cabbage is fairly inexpensive, so if you know how to “tun yu hand inna fashion” you may have already made some cabbage soup and also many other dishes with  cabbage.  As I’m writing this, I’m making a mental note to have a tab on this site, dedicated to  cabbage. Why? It is oh so healthy. I’m going give cabbage the star quality that it deserves.  Ok…back to the cabbage soup. In previous conversations with others, I became aware of  cabbage soup, but it was always with the word “diet” and “weight loss” and I am not a big fan of either. I always envisioned cabbage and liquid.  The individuals that I previously had the discussion with, about cabbage soup, always made it seem so “not very pleasing to the palate” and would usually quit the diet before they even had an opportunity to start.

Well I thank God that I have decided to eat healthier and eat more foods from the earth. I try avoid repetitive meals and “think outside of the box.”  With a little tweaking, it is easy to  create simple meals with foods from the earth. Well for me, it is easy. This cabbage soup is d’luscious, nutritious, AND an easy, effortless way to detox.