Booyah (also spelled booya, bouja, boulyaw, or bouyou) is a thick stew, believed to have originated in Belgium, and brought to northeastern Wisconsin by Walloons, it is now made throughout the Upper Midwestern United States.
Beef, chicken, and pork are popular varieties of meat for booyah (with all three often in the same kettle),[4] with vegetables such as carrots, peas, onions, and potatoes also in the mix.
[5] Typical large-scale booyah kettles can hold more than 50 US gallons (190 L) and are made from steel or cast iron to withstand direct heat and the long cooking time.
He went around to parents and neighbors, gathering up beef and chickens for the traditional Belgian soup that would be the main dish at the benefit affair.
The article notes that several variations on the name "booyah" occur around the Upper Midwest that "appear to be attempts to phonetically manage the hard-to-spell word 'bouillon', and they all are pronounced roughly the same".