Bammy and Festival

Bammy is the oldest food on the island still eaten daily. The Taíno grated bitter cassava, pressed the toxic liquid out of it, and baked the dried meal into flat cakes; the method survived essentially unchanged, and bammies are still made this way in villages in St Catherine and sold across the country. They are soaked in coconut milk before frying or steaming, which turns them soft, and they come with fried fish above all. Festival is a much newer thing: a finger of dough with cornmeal and a little sugar, deep fried until golden, slightly sweet, and served with jerk and with fish. Between them they accompany most of what Jamaica eats outdoors.

What you'll find

• Bammy - cassava flatbread, soaked in coconut milk and fried.
• Festival - slightly sweet fried cornmeal dough, served with jerk and fish.
• The cassava process - grating, pressing and drying, unchanged since the Taíno.
• Village bammy makers - the St Catherine communities that supply the island.

When to go

Year-round. Both are made fresh through the day at fish shacks and jerk pans and are best hot. Bammy is sold ready-made in every market and supermarket for cooking at home.

Practical notes

Bammy is dense and bland on its own; the coconut milk soak is what makes it worth eating, and a dry one is heavy going. Festival is sweet enough that some visitors find it odd beside savoury food. Neither is light, and a plate of fried fish with both is a great deal of starch.

Nearby

Hellshire and Alligator Pond fish shacks serve both; markets sell bammy everywhere.