The Healing Powers of Sopa de Paloma

An ancient dish, a new life

Squab is an elegant and tender little bird, a delicacy since ancient times across Asia, Africa, the Mediterranean, the Americas, and the Middle East. It is uncommon in modern American kitchens, partly because its reputation is spoiled by their wayward cousins. The ones we eat aren’t flying rats; they are lovebirds, raised by attentive human caretakers and strictly monogamous parents in the countryside. Some people believe that squab helps with every stage of baby-making, from attraction through postpartum recovery. Also, squab is delicious.

I had squab for the first time in November in a pigeon pie at a French-Cajun restaurant in Newburgh, NY called Mama Roux. It was the first night out my wife Zoraida and I had since our baby was born a few months earlier. The place was candlelit, the windows foggy on a cold night, and a friend sent me a late-birthday whiskey sour as we were being seated.