Jorge Argueta, illustrations by Rafael Yockteng,
Sopa de frijoles: Un poema para cocinar/ Bean Soup: A Cooking Poem
Groundwood Books, 2009.

Bilingual: Spanish and English

Ages 4-7

Bean Soup is a recipe book with a difference: while giving instructions to children on how to make a tasty bean soup, Jorge Argueta’s verse is also a celebration of tradition, simplicity, family, sharing, nature, and a child’s growing independence. Published here in its original Spanish, as well as with the English translation, there are discreet asterisks, which indicate where adult supervision is required in the cooking process. These do not intrude on the text but they do provide a serendipitous handle for young readers who are curious to work out the parallels between the two languages.

Seemingly bored with video games and toys, a young boy goes to the kitchen inspired to make a “yummy bean soup” for his family.  He gets out all the ingredients on his own as he recites the recipe in his mind:

            “all you need are…

            two cups
            of beans
            white
            red or
            black as
            night”

and so on...

As the house fills with wonderful smells (“like the earth/after the first/winter rains”), the boy begins to dance, excited to be making this soup that “will be eaten by/my brothers/my sister/my mom and my dad/and me.” In addition to honoring family and this traditional Latin comfort food, the poem also invokes nature at every turn. Each ingredient is thanked for its flavor as it is prepared for the pot; and the onion skins and garlic peels are buried under a tree “so Mother Earth/keeps on growing flavors.”

As he completes each task, the look of satisfaction on the boy’s face grows so that by the time his mother glances over his shoulder at the simmering pot of beans, he simply turns and gives her a wink. The subtlety and detail in Rafael Yockteng’s superb illustrations makes it a joy to revisit them over and over. He also shows that learning to cook is an experience that sometimes gets a little messy (but that’s okay).

With this inspiring and simple poem about making a heartwarming and simple food, Jorge Argueta’s (A Movie in my Pillow, Alfredito Flies Home) beautiful poetry and Rafael Yockteng’s delightful illustrations bring together home (in the broadest sense of the word), family, tradition and nature: and the power of cooking to harness them all together.  It is a book that will inspire young people to explore their own capabilities in the kitchen and will warm the hearts of their grown-ups in more ways than one.

Abigail Sawyer
April 2009