tales-of-Fogo-Island

The Back KitchenYears ago, everything was homemade, including entertainment. One personremembers the following story:When I was a child, I would be delighted when a dance was held at myhouse. I liked it because I would get to stay up late. These dances wouldnot be planned, they would just happen. Someone would come to thedoor and say, "What about a dance tonight in yer back kitchen?"If the answer to this question was 'yes', it was no time before the matswould be taken up off the floor. Sometimes they even took out the stove!Then the crowd would have the dance and probably a big scoff. The nextday, it would be all scrubbed up and you would never know thatanything happened there the night before!I remembers once, we had a dance in the porch at a neighbor's house. Inthem days, the ceilings in most houses were not very high. In thishouse, there was a hatch in the ceiling for the attic. One feller was tootall to dance in the porch, so they opened the hatch and away to go! He'stepped her down' all night with his head up through the hole in theceiling!A ScoffWhen the fishery was at its peak, men would often eat their lunch out on thewater. One man remembers:When I was a young fellow, fishing with me father, we would havestewed fish every day. We had a stove called a 'bogie' to cook on. It wasa cut off 10-gallon drum that was put down in some sand and rocks. Wewould have some fried-out fat pork in a pot, wash a fish in salt water,and then stew it. Then we would get the pot up on the gangboard. Wenever used plates. I'd take one side of the pot and me father would takethe other. We would have that with some bread and tea. Now, that wasnot only one day, we did this every day, over and over!