Bammy

{{short description|Jamaican flatbread}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Bammy | image = Bammies.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = | alternate_name = | country = Jamaica | region = | creator = Taínos | course = Side dish | type = Flatbread | served = | main_ingredient = Cassava | variations = | calories = | other = }}

'''Bammy''' is a traditional Jamaican cassava flatbread descended from the simple flatbread called ''casabe'', eaten by the Taínos, Jamaica's Indigenous people.<ref name="jis bk">{{cite web|title=Traditional Food Preparation in Jamaica: Tools & Methods|year=2014 |url=https://jis.gov.jm/media/JA-Traditional-Utensils07-08-14.pdf|website= Jamaica Information Service (JIS)|access-date=2025-01-03}}</ref> Variations of bammy exist throughout the Americas. It is produced in many rural communities and sold in stores and by street vendors in Jamaica and abroad. ==History== ===Origin=== [[File:Taíno women preparing cassava bread.png|thumb|Taíno women preparing ''casabe'' (cassava bread) in 1565— grinding ''cassava/yuca'' roots into paste with a ''metate and mano'', shaping the bread, and cooking it on a fire-heated ''burén''.]] thumb|''Casabe'' (cassava bread) preparation in 1791— with stone ''mortar and pestles'', wooden frame ''guayo'', ''matapi'' on a tree and ''burén''. thumb| Fried ''bammy'' in Jamaica Bammies have existed since pre-Columbian times, and they originated from the Taíno people.<ref>{{cite book |last=Atkinson |first=Lesley-Gail |title=The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taíno |publisher=University of the West Indies Press |year=2006 |isbn=9-7664-0149-7}}</ref><ref name=":taino">{{cite book |last=Rogoziński |first=Jan |title=A Brief History of the Caribbean |edition=Revised |year=1999 |publisher=Facts On File |location=New York, N.Y. |isbn=0-8160-3811-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofca00rogo_0 |via=Internet Archive |url-access=registration}}</ref> They are made with cassava (also called ''yuca'' or ''manioc'') indigenous to South America, and was a staple crop of the Taínos, which they cultivated in ''conucos''.<ref name=":taino"/> Cassava was also integral to their existence, as it featured prominently in their worship.<ref>{{cite news| date=2024-03-10|title=Unveiling the mystique of Taino gods|url=https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/art-leisure/20240310/unveiling-mystique-taino-gods |newspaper=Jamaica Gleaner| access-date=2025-01-07}}</ref><ref name="taino yuca gods">{{cite news| date=2013-06-02|title=The art of processing cassava|url=https://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130602/arts/arts2.html |newspaper=Jamaica Gleaner| access-date=2025-01-07}}</ref> Yúcahu, a major Taíno god, whose name has been translated to ''‘spirit of the cassava’'', was the ''god of cassava'' and the sea.<ref name="taino yuca gods"/> A minor Taíno god related to growing cassava, the process of life, creation and death, ''Baibrama'', was worshipped for his assistance in growing cassava and curing people from its poisonous juice.<ref name="taino yuca gods"/>

Bammies became a key part of the diet of the Spaniards, who adopted the dish, and later the British soldiers and settlers, because they could stay fresh for months and were easy to transport.<ref name=":ja55">{{cite web|title= Culinary Heritage:Our Rich Food Heritage |url=https://jamaica55.gov.jm/culinary/culinary-heritage/|website=Jamaica55.gov.jm|date=7 June 2017 }}</ref>

===Taíno traditional method=== According to the curator of the ''Jamaica National Heritage Trust'', Ann-Marie Howard Brown, the Taínos used a small, sharp, flat stone (''celt'') to peel and cut the cassava, which they would then grate on a ''guaio/guayo'', a wooden frame embedded with small stones and pieces of coral or a stone grater, until it was reduced to a pulp.<ref name="taino yuca gods"/> They would then place the pulp in a large funnel-shaped basket called a ''matapi'', which was hung from a tree for extraction of the juice.<ref name="taino yuca gods"/> Once the desired consistency was achieved, the mixture was placed on a stone structure called a ''metate'', and a smaller ground stone called a ''mano'', was used like a modern rolling pin to grind to the consistency of cassava flour.<ref name="taino yuca gods"/> This would then be moulded to circles in the desired size, and baked on earthenware griddles called ''buréns''.<ref name="taino yuca gods"/>

The Taínos passed on this tradition to the Spanish, British,<ref name=":ja55"/> enslaved and free Africans and Creoles, and most aspects of the original method of preparing bammy are still practised in parts of St Elizabeth and South East Manchester today.<ref name="taino yuca gods"/> <gallery> File:Stone Celt MET hz1994 35 421.jpg|''Stone celt (knife), used to peel and cut the cassava'' File:Santo Domingo - Museo de las Casas Reales 0068.JPG| ''Stone guayo, used to grate cassava'' File:Metate. Museo del Chocolate de Astorga.jpg|''Metate and mano, used to grind the cassava'' File:Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 1556-5d Model van een gevlochten cassavepers.jpg|''Matapi, used to extract the cassava juice'' File:Santo Domingo - Museo de las Casas Reales 0148.JPG|''Burén, used to cook bammies and flatbreads'' </gallery>

===Preservation and production of Bammy=== thumb|Typical ''bammies'' of different sizes produced and sold in Jamaica. For centuries, it was the bread staple for rural Jamaicans until the cheaper, imported wheat flour breads became popular in the post-World War II era.

In the 1990s, the United Nations and the Jamaican government established a program to revive bammy production and to market it as a modern, convenient food product.<ref>[http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/9911sp1.htm Bammy bread bounces back. ''Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations'']</ref>

Bammies are currently produced and sold in supermarkets across Jamaica. Also, they are still sold in local markets, and prepared and served in many restaurants, especially seafood or beachside restaurants in Jamaica. Bammies are a traditional Lenten or Easter staple for Jamaicans.

==Preparation== [[File:Seafood dish Ja.jpg|thumb|Seafood meal in Jamaica— garlic lobster with mashed sweet potato, stir-fry vegetables, fried ''bammy'' and fried ripe plantain. ''Bammy'' is typically served as a side dish with seafood.]] thumb| ''Casabe'' in Venezuela Bammy is made from bitter cassava. Traditionally, the cassava is grated and placed in a press bag<ref name="method"/> (woven with thatch leaves) and placed in an outdoor press where heavy stones are loaded on.<ref name="taino yuca gods"/> Once completely drained, but still a bit moist, the cassava is beaten in a mortar then sieved to a fine flour texture.<ref name="taino yuca gods"/> Salt is then added to taste.

The actual baking of bammies varies across Jamaican communities. Traditionally, it is made by spreading a handful of the flour evenly in a baking ring, on a flat iron griddle on the open fire, or in a ''Dutch pot''.<ref name="taino yuca gods"/><ref name="method">{{cite news| date=2009-03-26|title=How bammies are made |url=https://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090326/cook/cook3.html|newspaper=Jamaica Gleaner| access-date=2025-01-08}}</ref> While baking, the top of the bammy is patted with a flat board and then turned over. The baking process takes about 3 minutes, and the final product is a thin, foldable bread about 10" in diameter. This is the Indigenous way of preparing ''casabe'' (bammy), which is similar to traditional tortillas of Mesoamerican cultures. It can then be eaten with whatever fillings are desired.

The more modern (and popular) approach is to bake thicker bammies about 6" in diameter.<ref name="Grace">{{cite web|title=Bammy |url=https://gracefoods.com/recipe-a-z/recipe/5194-bammy|website=Grace|access-date=2025-01-08}}</ref> These are often mass-produced in factories. When home-baked, the flour may be store-bought or made by hand-pressing.<ref name="method"/> The bammy can be baked on griddles or in baking pans on a stove top.<ref name="Grace"/> Some choose to bake it inside an oven, and to add butter and other spices before baking. Baking takes longer due to the thickness, and the final product is then cut into halves or wedges for freezing. When ready to eat, the wedges are soaked in coconut milk and then fried until golden brown or steamed,<ref name="Grace"/> and served with meat, fish, seafood, avocado, or other side dishes. Bammy, like festival, wheat bread and tortillas, are served anytime or consumed as a snack.

==Variations== Several variations of cassava bread and fried cassava are eaten in other islands like Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where UNESCO has recently recognised cassava bread as an ''Intangible Heritage of Humanity''.<ref name=":UNESCO">{{cite news| date=2024-12-09|title=UNESCO recognises cassava bread as an Intangible Heritage of Humanity| url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2024/12/09/unesco-recognises-cassava-bread-intangible-heritage-humanity/|newspaper=Jamaica Observer| access-date=2025-01-08}}</ref> Fried cassava and cassava breads are common snacks in Brazil, where they are called tapioca, and ''casabe'' in Venezuela,<ref name=":UNESCO"/> Colombia, Ecuador, and several Central American countries including Panama, Belize, Honduras<ref name=":UNESCO"/><ref name=":cassava bread">{{cite web| date=2021-02-02|title=How Cassava Bread Defied an Empire|url=https://lifeandthyme.com/food/how-cassava-bread-defied-an-empire/#:~:text=The%20name%20%E2%80%9CGarifuna%E2%80%9D%20is%20derived,who%20also%20lived%20on%20St| access-date=2025-01-08}}</ref> et al. In St Vincent, cassava bread is called ''bambam'' or ''areba'' (the Garifuna word for "cassava-eaters"),<ref name=":cassava bread"/> and in Dominica, several types of cassava breads were made by the Kalinagos (another Arawakan-speaking subgroup).

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Jamaican cuisine Category:Flatbreads Category:Jamaican breads Category:Cassava dishes Category:Indigenous cuisine Category:Native American cuisine