Antiguan Cuisine with Gwendolyne Tonge

Combine the cooking abilities of Martha Stewart, the political know-how of Hillary Clinton, and the cultural understanding of Mia Angelo and you will begin to understand Dame Gwendolyne Tonge — former school teacher, Senator, knighted Dame, and National hero.

Typically Women’s rights and home economics are mutually exclusive terms. Gwen Tonge has managed to bridge this gap. She has traveled the world to speak for the rights of women and has kept up her own cooking show, Cooking Magic, since 1964 which features local foods and guests. She crossed, what many feminists would argue, was an impossible barrier. But Gwendolyne Tonge has a lifetime of doing the impossible. While one could easily explore a myriad of topics, we came to the house of Gwendolyne Tonge, officially Dame Tonge and to the thousands she has taught to cook, simply "Auntie Gwen" to learn how to cook.

One might say she is the authority on cooking in Antigua. No collection of Antiguan recipes existed until Tonge published her two Cooking Magic books. "The recipes I cook tend to be traditional from the region. I also try to make things that are inexpensive to make, filling to eat, and that the whole family can enjoy," explained Auntie Gwen.
Antiguan Cuisine reflects the island’s rich cultural heritage. One minute you will be enjoying high tea, a tradition left behind by the British and the next you could be having the national dishes or fungi, pepperpot, and saltfish. "Fungi is a staple dish here. It is a cornmeal porridge with bits of okra, in a coal pot," said Tonge. "You stir the fungi for some time with a wooden stick until it is thick, then you shape it in a bowl into individual servings and Fungi is usually served with saltfish (dried salted cod)." When asked about pepperpot she answered, "it is a mix of ground provisions like sweet potatoes, yams, root vegetables with meat and other vegetables to make a stew."

Recipes from Auntie Gwen’s Cooking Magic Antiguan and Barbudan Pepperpot:
Needed:
• 4 eddo-leaves (cut up, 1 lb salt beef or 1 lb. other fresh meat optional)
• 4 eggplants (diced or antrobers)
• 2 teaspoons of margarine;
• 4 ochroes (diced)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Bunch of chive & thyme (pounded)
• 2 onions (chopped)
• 2 cups of green peas (cooked)
• 1 lb spinach chopped; 2 tomatoes (diced)
• 1 cup diced pumpkin
• 1 cup diced squash
• 2 teaspoonfuls of oil
• 1 lb. salt pork, pig snout
• 2 teaspoonfuls of ketchup
• pig’s feet (cut in bits)
Method: Cook meats and add vegetables, except green peas. Add seasoning. Cook green peas in a small amount of salt water. Remove vegetables. Chop well, return to pot. Allow to cook until thick. Add cooked peas. Season and return to fire.

Fungee recipe:
Needed:
• 2 cups corn meal
• 3 cups water
• Salt to taste
• 3 okras (cut in neat pieces)
• 2 tablespoons of butter
Method: Bring water to the boil with okras until they are cooked. Remove 2 cups of water to a pan. Add meal to the remaining boiling water. Using a wooden spoon, mix corn meal and crush to the side of the pan to remove lumps. Add water when necessary.

When mixture leaves the bottom of the pan, remove from fire.
Place butter in tea-cup or small bowl. Place large spoonful of fungee in bowl. Roll to a ball. Serve hot with pepper pot; stewed or fried fish, or cod-fish and egg-plant. Fungee can be left overnight. Sliced and dried and used with syrup or jam for breakfast.