While many foods may be associated with good luck, one food in particular is linked with the concept of freedom: soup joumou, writes Sabrina Vourvoulias for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Soup joumou is a native Haitian soup made with squash, beef, potatoes, and a variety of vegetables. 

“On January 1, 1804, the freed Black men and women drank the soup joumou, proudly. Haitians drink that soup every January 1 to celebrate our freedom from the French tyrants,” wrote Rev. Josephys Dafils, founder of Haitian American United for Change. 

In 2021, UNESCO inscribed soup joumou in its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Gou!, a Haitian restaurant in Olney that opened in 2022, will be serving soup joumou on January 2 as part of its Haitian Independence Day celebration. 

It’s a tradition that lives on in the diaspora. 

While soup joumou is a key part of the celebration of Haiti’s independence on January 1, so too are church mass services and discussions about hope for Haiti’s future amid its many hardships. 

“We shall overcome as Haitians. Haiti will be again the pearl of the Caribbean,” said Dafils. “Haiti is, and will be, the beacon of freedom for all people — especially all people of African descent.”

Read more about how Haitians celebrate New Year’s Day at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Haitian soup joumou has a rich history.