My name is Bobby J Hobson. I was born in Aruba, one of the prettiest and most exciting islands in the Netherlands Antilles. At the age of eight, I moved back with my family to the beautiful Caribbean Island of St.Kitts, where I grew up. On the island of St.Kitts, I was one of the original members of “Ellie Matt and the G.I’s Brass”. I was the drummer and one of the lead Singers in the band. It was in St.Kitts that I learnt all about good food and the preparation of it. As a kid I loved cooking. I was the youngest in a family of seven, so naturally we all were responsible for different chores around the house. My least favorite chore was sweeping up the leaves and duck droppings with a coconut tree branch from our dirt yard. However, my most favorite chore was marinating the meat on Saturday nights for Sunday Dinner. You see, it was my older sister’s responsibility to marinate and cook dinner on Sundays. My sister use to pay me twenty five cents to marinate the meat on Saturday nights. In hindsight, that twenty five cents was the best investment that she had unknowingly made in me.

Over the years, I have mastered the art of marinating using fresh herbs and other spices. The essence of cooking is all about how you use your spices and imagination.

As a kid growing up and going to elementary school, I grew very fond of Black Pudding (Blood Sausage). There was a lady that we use to call “Baby Dog Links”. This nickname was given to her mainly because, she used to make and serve black pudding everyday of the week, when it was only on Saturdays that the animals were butchered and fresh meat was available in the market and to the general public. The question back then was, where was she getting her links? This lady entrepreneur, use to run a food stand that sold some of the best black pudding I have ever tasted, she also sold, sugar and coconut cakes, pull-pull candy, tamarind jam, fresh guava, sugar apples, mangoes and many other good and fresh foods.

Her food stand was located next to my school. One would always know when Baby had arrived, by the sweet aroma of freshly made Black Pudding. I clearly remember the days, when I used to be one of the first customers to get served the first piece of black pudding, The taste was amazing. As a matter of fact as a kid in school, they use to call me “Black Pudding Man”.

In 1974, my sister sponsored me to move to Canada, so with $300.00 in my pocket, three pairs of pants, five shirts, and a homemade box containing my LP records, I moved to Canada. It was my love for black pudding that pushed me to learn how to make it. I remembered when I first came to Canada how much I use to crave black pudding. The most frustrating part was, not knowing where I could get some. After living with my sister and her family for awhile, I moved into the second floor, of a retired Ukrainian family’s home. My landlady who lived downstairs soon adopted me, and became my second mother. I guess she felt sorry for me as I used to go to school during the day and work all night, most times I would come home hungry.

When I got home from work at night there would always be a home cooked meal such as borscht , Ukrainian chicken soup, cabbage rolls, perogies and fresh kubasa, from my landlady. I will never forget that one evening when I got home from work and found a coil of black pudding, that she had made. You can only imagine how happy and excited I was to see that her sausage was made out of blood and buckwheat! However, I was most excited as I had now found a Meat Shop that I could now obtain fresh blood and casings and make black pudding.

Needless to say I immediately began experimenting with making black pudding I saw it being made back home, so I tried it once and it was a disaster. Making black pudding is definitely an art and it takes years of perfection. Making it at first, was very tough, I used to lose most of my black pudding due to them bursting whilst cooking. With my passion for wanting to eat good black pudding, I wanted to master the art of making genuine black pudding, so I made it on a regular basis, trying different ways and blend of spices.

Today, my deep love for black pudding has not changed, the only difference now, is that, I can make it whenever I crave it. With over 35 years of making Black pudding, I strongly believe that I have perfected my recipe and it is now time to bring it to a wider audience across Canada.