Many Latinx families have their own special homemade remedies to battle seasonal sickness that have been passed through generations. Taíno Cubana bruja and author Juliet Diaz enjoys preparing a sopa de pollo (chicken soup) passed from her great-grandmother to boost immunity. Diaz comes from a family line of curanderas and knows how the healing benefits of this sopa have withstood the test of time.
The flavorful broth of this sopa de pollo will soothe the throat and hydrate the body. The chicken, fideo (noodles), yuca, and potatoes will keep the body full and satisfied with protein and carbohydrates, while onions, garlic, and carrots bring vitamins C and K and antioxidants into the immune system. When imbuing remedios like these with spiritual intention, it can create a healing that goes beyond the body, as we remember ancestors who used these same ingredients for their own survival and care.
"My go-to is kitchen recipes like my great grandmother's chicken healing soup that many Cuban people make when we feel sick. My ancestors live through me, and through me they feel joy, they feel loved, and they will claim back everything that has been taken from them through this very vessel of mine," Diaz said in an email with POPSUGAR. "We are not walking alongside our ancestors, we are our ancestors. They are helping us remember and through remembrance we are able to find ourselves, heal deeply, decolonize, and bring honor to our Spirit."
Try Juliet Diaz's sopa de pollo recipe here.
