David vs. Goliath. Odysseus and Polyphemus. Cabo Verde vs. Argentina. Alas, the latter underdog was not the official victor.
Though the soccer club of Cape Verde (a small archipelago off the coast of Senegal, Africa) was defeated, Friday’s epic game was probably celebrated with a hearty Cape Verdean stew: cachupa. Team chef Lamine Medina served the now-battle-tested club the dish either the day after a pivotal match or four days before game day, but never on the day of a match.
“I think for the stomach, but also for the head, for the psychology: It’s a very important moment when we make cachupa,” Medina said.
I can imagine the team on Saturday, probably a little heartbroken and disappointed, feasting on the stew of corn, beans, blood sausage and squash before heading home to the islands.
Medina shared a brief video clip with me of some of the players on a day he made cachupa in June, in the midst of their World Cup run of stunning group-stage draws.
While I don’t speak Portuguese, or Cape Verdean Creole for that matter, the joy was evident as a player dug into the stew and “cachupa” could be heard ringing out joyously from players in line for the meal.
Cape Verde’s is a small club in comparison to giants like Argentina and Mexico. Medina told me he and the team’s staff chipped in on all the club’s duties. Cabo Verde traveled with one bus and four cars and one chef. Larger organizations like Morocco and France travel with over a dozen cooks, multiple buses and up to twice as many cars, he said.
I believe in magical thinking, like most sports fan(atics). And cachupa might have been Cabo Verde’s analog to a leather sling loaded with a smooth river stone or a glowing hot wooden stake.
Whatever the stew’s role in the club’s glory I like to imagine it remains a fixture in their future conjuring powers as only home-cooked food can.
