Night Market · Spiced Broth

Pepper Soup

📷 Closely related photo — Photo: Jon Handley / Unsplash · Unsplash License

Cameroonian markets sell ready-ground 'pepper soup spice,' a blend that typically combines njangsa, calabash nutmeg, and other local seeds and barks.

Goat, tripe, or catfish is simmered in a thin, fiery broth seasoned with chili, ground njangsa seeds, scent leaves and calabash nutmeg until the flavors run peppery and deep. Night-market vendors ladle it steaming into bowls from big pots, often served alongside grilled plantain or eaten alone as a late-night warm-up.

Why it's made this way: It's traditionally treated as medicine as much as food — Cameroonians reach for a bowl to sweat out a cold or settle the stomach, and vendors keep pots simmering late into the night specifically for that reason.