Pom

Pom

Specialised

⚠ SURINAME’S CELEBRATION DISH, AND ITS ORIGIN IS GENUINELY CONTESTED. Grated POMTAJER — the root of Xanthosoma, a tannia/malanga relative grown for this purpose — mixed with citrus juice, mixed with salted or roasted CHICKEN, onion, tomato and nutmeg, and baked until the top browns and the inside sets. Eaten at birthdays, weddings and Christmas, and by everyone regardless of community. ⚠ IT IS WIDELY ATTRIBUTED TO THE PORTUGUESE-JEWISH COMMUNITY of Jodensavanne and Paramaribo, as a New World substitution for a potato or matzo-based gratin; that attribution is repeated in the literature and is not conclusively documented. Creole authorship is also claimed. ⚠ NO ORIGIN IS ASSERTED HERE. What is certain is that pomtajer must be grated fresh, and that the diaspora in the Netherlands buys it frozen.