A West African snack or breakfast of deep-fried dough, sometimes served with powdered sugar. Neni makes Mighty puff-puff for breakfast when she serves as his nanny in the Hamptons, and it becomes a food that he associates with her maternal love and care.
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Puff-Puff Term Timeline in Behold the Dreamers
The timeline below shows where the term Puff-Puff appears in Behold the Dreamers. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 24
...and that maybe Mighty can go with her to Harlem where they can continue making puff-puff for breakfast. Mighty says it’d be “cool” to go to Harlem, then he remembers that...
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Chapter 25
...she opens the door, Mighty rushes in to hug her and asks if she’s made puff-puff, which she reminds him is a breakfast food.
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Chapter 34
...could come too. Jende shakes his head, but suggests that Neni could make Mighty some puff-puff and fried ripe plantains for him to eat going to and from school. When Jende...
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Chapter 55
...Neni suggests that he might like them more if they gave him fried plantains and puff-puff. Vince uses that as a segue to ask Neni if she’d like to be Mighty’s...
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