When Fish Stew Just Isn’t Enough
By Mitch Berg
Joe Doakes from Como Park:
Hey Mitch, do SITD readers eat Booya?
I’m trying to decide whether to put it on my Bucket List, or give it a pass. Let’s take a poll: what’s the readership’s opinion?
Joe Doakes
Como Park
September 10th, 2013 at 9:03 am
Never heard of it until today. Looks a bit like a wimpy version of chili.
September 10th, 2013 at 10:13 am
Yeah, it’s like chili, it’s like gumbo – it’s like all of those traditional dishes that came about when our poorer ancestors had a mish-mosh of products and the only thing that made sense was to stew it all together to give it a uniform flavor that was better than any of the parts individually or in pairings. Booya is the northwoods version so local food stereo types apply. It’s kinda bland, it’s a bit salty, and if you like spice I hope you brought your Tabasco bottle.
But really the Booya is an association dish. You’ll think of the booya fondly since it is a Fall party dish and presumably you like the people you party with.
September 10th, 2013 at 12:39 pm
I don’t like the sausage, but I like the fish.
September 10th, 2013 at 2:28 pm
Our city’s volunteer/part-time Fire Department uses it as the centerpiece of their Fall fundraiser. They usually sell-out before noon, after being up all night making it, frying the giblets and eating them (chicken is a major component of theirs), and washing them down.
It’s actually quite good, but I suspect it’s as previously mentioned – very loosely defined. Don’t hear much about it in the 218 area code. Or never used to.
“Booya” comes from the French word “bouillie” which means soup, stew, or something like that. I would recommend it, but don’t assume that whatever version you get is representative of all of them.