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Island Fever
Tastes & Tales of Cayman
Easter Bun
I've turned into a notorious eavesdropper and supermarket busybodylately. Last week, in the middle of Foster's Food Fair at theStrand, I found myself defending our Easter Bun to a 40-ish couplevisiting from New York. It made me realize, once again, how manylittle things about our culture we take for granted that othersmight find interesting.
"What's in those boxes? What are theybuying?? This just looks just like fruitcake. Don't these Islandersget enough of that stuff at Christmas?", the woman said;amazed by how a huge display of boxed Jamaican buns and tinsof Jamaican cheese were disappearing before their eyes.
"It's really nothing like fruitcake,"I intruded, as politely as possible, "it's a much betterversion of your Hot Cross Bun, only shaped like a loaf." That cross-cultural connection established immediate rapportand I had a captive audience. Americans of all religious persuasionslove the Lenten season: it's the only time of year they can findHot Cross Buns. Eaten only at breakfast, most are like raisin-ladendinner rolls topped with rich, sticky icing crosses. They areabout as much like our robust, spiced Easter Bun as dry NorthAmerican fruitcake is like West Indian Christmas pudding. Poorsouls they don't know what they are missing.
I explained that bun and cheese is an Easterseason tradition and one of our favorite year-round snacks, eatenin inch and a half-high sandwiches filled with a thick slab ofJamaican cheese. These visitors had never seen cheese in a can,much less ones that size. If I had a can opener I would have donea demonstration right there in the aisle. The idea of a betterHot Cross Bun filled with luscious cheese made the New Yorkers'eyes light up, as if it were a completely new concept. They addedthis cultural discovery to their shopping cart and said they wouldtake it back home to share with friends.
Thanks to a chance encounter and a longchat earlier that day at the National Museum with Mrs. GeorgetteEbanks (Museum Director Anita Ebanks' mother) I was able to adda little Cayman history and explain the significance of that commonfoodstuff. I asked Mrs. Ebanks about Cayman's Easter season traditions,something I've never seen mentioned anywhere. Her response includedmany fascinating memories.
In this predominantly Christian community,Good Friday was traditionally the most solemn day of the year.It was a not just a public holiday, but a day of religious observance, devoted to Church services and quiet time at home reflectingwith family. Work was strongly discouraged. Meals were simpleand meager, sometimes only one a day- and nothing with blood waseaten, in recognition of mankind's redemption by the blood shedby Jesus Christ on the Cross. This custom's roots date to the7th century. In 604 AD, Pope Gregory the Great decreed that duringthe 40 days of Lent, Christians would repent by complete abstinencefrom "flesh meat and all things that come from flesh,"including milk and eggs. According to Mrs. Ebanks, supper wasoften simply bun and cheese. Some families would stick to thisaustere diet until Easter Sunday.
Additional research revealed that Lentenseason spiced bun can be traced to a custom called MotheringSunday that started in England during the late Middle Ages. Onthe third Sunday of Lent, children who lived away from home asapprentices and footservants were allowed to attend Mass at the"mother" church, where they had been baptized. Afterward,they visited their own mothers carrying gifts including "simnilecakes," spiced raisin cakes covered with a layer of marzipan. On Good Friday, the single meal consisted of plain dry breadand water.
However, by the mid 1300's in England, thishad changed and become a Good Friday custom of eating small sweetrolls studded with currants and candied fruit -the traceable ancestorof the Easter bun. These breads may have originated with the monksat St. Albania's Abbey, who distributed similar sweet rolls icedwith sugary crosses as Lenten alms to the poor. The colonial Englishplanters brought this custom with them to the West Indies, whereCaribbean folk greatly improved the recipe.
Several other Caymanian friends I askedagreed about the tradition of eating meals of bun and cheese onGood Friday. But they added that stew beans (red beans or blackeyed peas) and white rice were traditional too however, thebeans could not be cooked with pork or beef, only "seasonings."In old times, that meant five things: salt, pepper, sweet greenpepper, onion and seasoning pepper the mild version of ScotchBonnet.
So Easter Bun's cultural importance is morethan you may have realized. However, judging from its year-roundpopularity, eating modern bun and cheese can hardly be consideredpenance. Next week: we'll have a traditional Cayman-style EasterMonday picnic on the beach.
Barbara Currie Dailey is the author of TortugaRum Fever and Caribbean Party Cookbook. She receives no compensationof any kind from the Jamaican bun and cheese industry.
Bun N Cheese
The beloved Easter Bun, simply called bun,is an important Easter season tradition in Cayman, also enjoyedyear round as an anytime snack. There are many recipes, promptingdiscussion about who bakes the best buns, how sweet it shouldbe and whether to use yeast, Dragon stout, baking soda or bakingpowder. Some prefer mixed peel and dried fruit instead of raisins,but bun is not supposed to resemble fruitcake. The cheese youMUST use for this is Jamaican processed cheddar, like Tastee orGrace, sold in tins or by the chunk in local supermarkets. Athick slice of cheese between two half-inch slabs of Easter Bunwill sustain anyone through a hard morning maybe even all day.