Creative Expressions of Colour by A. Jerry Simon
July 27 2026 | Art Review
Today we are looking at a piece of art work that highlights several aspects of the culture of Antigua and Barbuda. The title of the artwork, “The Soup That Broke My Yabba”, is actually the first illustration of our national culture. In our local folklore there are numerous stories and rhymes about soup and food cooked in “yabba” pots. For example, in “Shalov’s Strange Bargain” by Antigua author Ralph Prince, it talks of a fife player making a bargain with a stranger, involving a large pot that would be filled with food on request. The fifer divulged to another friend the secret of the food, and as result he was not seen again. That and other “Obeah” stories are certainly commonplace in our culture.
The coal pot, on which the yabba sits, is a special appliance, often made of clay in Antigua, that is used as a stove for the cooking meals. Ever so often these days, we see coal pots made from the recycled rims of car tyres or sawed-of oil drums. The coals, commonly made from Antiguan cassie (Acasia) wood, are placed in the coal pot as fuel for the fire. Local experts can boil, fry, bake, roast or barbecue their food on the coal pot. In this particular artwork, the coal pot is made of clay from Sea View Farm, the hub of traditional pottery in Antigua. This one has an “arch” which gives you the opportunity to carry out more that one cooking task simultaneously.
The Yabba is a Caribbean earthenware clay pot, made in various shapes, that is used as the cooking or storage container for the food. Historically associated with Rastafarian and vegan cooking, it is a powerful symbol of communal cooking, domestic life and ancestral heritage. The Yabba is this case, again made in Sea View Farm, has a vertical crack the runs through it.
It is said that Sister Ada (Mavis, Gertude or any number of women with “old people” names) was cooking soup.
The soup apparently was too hot and crack the yabba pot. Traditionally it means this soup has some special supernatural energy, too powerful for the average taster. As a result, the soup broke the yabba, leaked into the coal pot and out the fire.
In the past people would talk about the Obeah men and women in the villages that can cast all kinds of spell. Of course they are probably more sophisticated today; but keep away from that kind of thing none-the-less.