Pepper soup

What makes it pepper soup

• A thin broth, not a thickened soup.
• Pepper soup spice — calabash nutmeg, alligator pepper and others.
• Scotch bonnet heat, often with scent leaf or utazi.

Where it comes from

Not thick like egusi — a clear, peppery broth, meant to be sipped and sweated over. Its perfume comes from a spice mix of West African seeds such as calabash nutmeg, alligator pepper and uziza, with scotch bonnet for the heat.

It's the soup of bars and evenings out, of cold weather and colds; many people swear by it when they're ill. Catfish pepper soup is sometimes called point and kill, after choosing the fish live from a tank.

How it varies

Goat meat pepper soup

The bar favourite, with chewy, bony pieces.

Catfish pepper soup

Point and kill — soft, rich fish in a lighter broth.