DUMBOY, THE NATIONAL DISH OF LIBERIA 



By G. N. Collins 



TO attempt the description of a 

 gastronomic novelty is like at- 

 tempting to describe a landscape. 

 The constituent parts can be described 

 and the manner in which they are com- 

 bined, but it requires something more 

 than accurate description to reproduce 

 the sensation of the original. To those 

 who have actually witnessed a particular 

 view, even a feeble description may 



MORTAR AND PESTLE FOR BEATING DUMBOY 



suffice to recall the original impression. 

 It is the same with tastes and odors ; 

 but there are few who have known the 

 pleasures of Liberian dumboy. 



To these the mere name will recall a 

 picture of some little native town at sun- 

 set, surrounded by the somber tropical 

 forest, where the stillness is broken only 

 by the appetizing crack of the pestle. 

 The thought of a chicken dumboy with 

 "whaney" and "kifTy 1 ' seed will obliter- 

 ate all impressions of the steaming heat 

 and the mad fevers, and leave only a 

 desire to taste again this most fascinating 

 dish. To the uninitiated I fear that any 

 description I can give will only leave the 

 impression of a barbarous concoction, 

 and may perhaps arouse disgust. 



The principal ingredient of dumboy is 

 cassava, or "cassada," as it is called in 

 Liberia. The edible roots of this plant, 

 known botanically as Manihot utilissi- 

 mum, are the source of tapioca and some 

 of the forms of sago. There are a great 

 many varieties of cassava, classified usu- 

 ally as either "bitter" or "sweet." The 

 roots of the "bitter" sorts contain con- 

 siderable quantities of prussic acid, and 

 are poisonous unless cooked. There 

 seem to be no visible characters distin- 

 guishing the sweet from the bitter, and 

 recent investigations indicate that the 

 poisonous ingredient of the bitter varie- 

 ties is developed only under certain 

 conditions of soil and climate. All the 

 varieties in Liberia are sweet, and may 

 be eaten raw with impunity. 



To prepare the roots of cassava for 

 dumboy they are peeled, boiled, and all 

 fibers from the center are removed. The 

 cooked roots are then placed in a large 

 wooden mortar and beaten with a heavy 

 pestle (see figure on page 85). This 

 beating requires considerable skill and 

 experience. In the hands of a novice 

 the pestle sticks to the dumboy, and the 

 result is a lumpy and inedible mass. To 

 prevent the sticking, the pestle is dipped 



