#29 - Cabo Verde

Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) is a small group of ten islands in the middle of the Atlantic. It was uninhabited until the 1400s when the Portuguese settled there. It subsequently became a "stopping point" for ships during the slave trade. This blending of European and Africa cultures early on has apparently resulted in a totally unique culture developing. Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal in the 70's and changed it's name officially to The Republic of Cabo Verde in 2013.

While I'm not sure that it's the "national dish", we discovered that one of the most popular meals is Cachupu which is essentially a stew with hominy, beans, sweet potato, casava, sausage and whatever fish or meat they have on hand. Jack and Andrew found a recipe on an African blog and were in charge of cooking this week!

The recipe they used had fresh tuna, salt pork, and chorizo in addition to the hominy, beans and sweet potato. I was not a huge fan (didn't really eat any of it), but everyone else liked it. Andrew thinks it was the best meal thus far. Good thing they liked it - we have a TON of leftovers!

Back to Asia next week...Cambodia.