Coo-Coo

Appears in
top 1000The Complete Book of Caribbean Cooking
The Complete Book of Caribbean Cooking

By Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz

Published 1973

  • About

Though Coo-Coo is traditionally credited to Barbados, it turns up in a great many islands including Jamaica, Trinidad, and Tobago. In the Netherlands Antilles and the Virgin Islands it is called Funchi or Fungi, and is cooked without the okras, sometimes even without butter, though this produces a rather dull dish. There is also a sweet Fungi, popular in the Virgin Islands (see Breads, Puddings and Desserts).

Coo-Coo in Barbados is served with the island speciality, steamed flying fish, but is also served in other islands as a starchy vegetable with any meat or fish, and sometimes with tomato sauce. The word coo-coo means a cooked side dish, and in addition to corn meal coo-coo there are Breadfruit Coo-Coo, an interesting corn meal and coconut version from Grenada, and one from Trinidad made with fresh sweet corn.