Victoria Whyte
“When pot a bubble on Satdeh, hunger nuh buss dat house, for Satdeh pot full, belly full, heart glad, an’ one pot a Satdeh feed nuff mouth.”
Translation:
“When the pot bubbles on Saturday, hunger won’t enter the house; a full Saturday pot brings full bellies and glad hearts, and one Saturday pot can feed many mouths.”
Place of Origin:
St. Annes, Jamaica
Arrival: 1967
A story of multicultural Britain, friendship and unity.
Saturday soup is a deeply rooted tradition in Caribbean culture, born from the need to prepare ahead for the week and keep Sundays free for church.
Victoria began cooking while helping her uncle, a well-known chef who taught her many skills. His generosity extended to cooking for funerals and community gatherings. Later, seeing the absence of Black-owned takeaways, Victoria and her family opened one, which quickly became popular and even won awards.
Saturday soup proved especially beloved, attracting customers across communities, including many from the Asian community, and continues to be a cherished part of cultural celebration and memory.
Listen to Victoria’s Oral Stories
Saturday Soup
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My uncle, he was a chef, and on a weekend he would say to me, “Oh, I've got a function, and you want to come and help.” I said,” Okay!” So I went and helped. So he taught me how to cook all over Birmingham, and everybody mentioned, “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar!” Doesn't matter where, everyone knew him.
So he cooks at weddings, he cooks at funerals, you know, anything you want. If I didn't want to cook, I could have just said, “Uncle, can you cook dinner for me” and I'll come and pick it up. That's the type of person he was.
My mother didn't really teach us how to cook, really, in a sense, while we was here, we decided to say, oh, there's no black take away or anything. So we decided to open one, and it took off well, and we won the award for the best Caribbean Takeaway by the Council.
Husband Moses interjects: “It’s not just the best Caribbean. Get it right.”
Victoria: The mayor set a competition.
Moses: “They visit everywhere. After that, they take it away and judge, and she get the first class award…”
Victoria: the Asian community, they love the soup. I don't know why, but every weekend, they come for the soup. And I keep on saying, Yes, I'm gonna do soup. You know what she did to me? She went about the chicken, cleaned them up, and then she comes out the door and said, “Here it is.”
Yeah, we had some just Saturday gone. His friend, it was his 80th birthday.