Matthew Fagbo and Peanut Soup
Last week I made the Senegalese sweet potato and peanut soup that’s in the recipe pages on this site. It was delicious and it made me think of Matthew Fagbo who used to own the little late-night deli around the corner from where I live (on Ninth Avenue between 47th and 48th – you know, the place where a Yemen restaurant has been getting ready to open for about the whole last year).
Matthew was the most friendly shopkeeper in the neighborhood, as I remember, always cheerful. I remember buying my usual milk and orange juice in there one night and asking him how he was and I don’t know how the conversation turned this way but he mentioned that he ate peanut butter on brown rice for dinner. “Mmm That sounds delicious.” I said, without thinking. I meant it, spontaneously, but from his facial reaction, I realized he had been letting me know that that was all he could afford to eat.
He died, in his thirties, of a heart attack one night soon after that. He used to work until midnight, then close up his shop and go home to Queens – to be back by 5am the next morning (7 days a week) to open up again. Peanut butter on brown rice and – what? three hours’ sleep a night? No wonder he died. And, it turned out after he died, he had been sending money back to his family in Nigeria all that time. I don’t have with me the photos I have of his store after he died, but you might remember how the neighborhood (who must all have loved him) piled flowers outside his store.
Ironically, after making the peanut soup the other night, I read in a paper the next day about a study done on rates of depression around the world. Rich USA has one of the highest rates of depression. Not-so-rich (despite the oil) Nigeria has THE lowest.
Why am I not surprised. Rest in peace, Matthew.