Jewish-Portuguese / Creole
Pom: the celebration dish of Suriname
Pom is a Surinamese baked dish of grated pomtayer, a taro-like root, with chicken, onion, tomato and citrus juice. It is Jewish-Portuguese in origin and counts as the celebration dish of Suriname: no birthday happens without it.
Flavour and texture
Soft, sweet-sour from the citrus, savoury from the chicken. No heat unless you add it.
Street price, indicative SRD 100–200
Pomtayer is the tuber of an arum-family plant related to taro. Grated and baked it turns soft, faintly sour and slightly sticky, that texture is the whole point of pom, and the reason nothing else substitutes exactly.
The origin lies with the Jewish-Portuguese community that settled in Suriname from the seventeenth century onwards, including at Jodensavanne on the Suriname River. What began as a version of a European baked dish became wholly Surinamese once it was made with a Surinamese root, and today it is above all a Creole dish.
The exact origin is disputed, and we do not pick a side. The most frequently cited account points to the Jewish-Portuguese community at Jodensavanne, settled on the Suriname River from the seventeenth century. Others point to Creole cooking itself and to the tayer already grown here. What is certain is narrower: the root is tropical, the form of the dish is European, and pom exists nowhere else.
How pom spread is less contested. After the abolition of slavery on 1 July 1863 and the state supervision that ran until 1873, many Creole families moved to Paramaribo, and there pom became the dish of the urban celebration. It travelled again with migration to the Netherlands from the 1960s.
You eat pom with rice, or in a bread roll as a "pom broodje", which is what gets handed round at birthdays and funerals. In the Netherlands pomtayer is sold frozen and pre-grated in virtually every Surinamese grocer.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is pom?
Pom is a Surinamese baked dish of grated pomtayer (a root vegetable related to taro), chicken, onion, tomato and the juice of sour orange or lemon, baked until the top is golden brown.
Why is it called a celebration dish?
Pom is laborious, the tayer has to be grated by hand, so it has always been made for a crowd. In Suriname and in the Surinamese community in the Netherlands it appears at practically every birthday, wedding and funeral.
Can you make pom outside Suriname?
Yes. Pomtayer is sold frozen and grated in Surinamese and Asian grocers across the Netherlands and Belgium. Sour orange is harder to find; a mix of orange and lime juice gets close.
Where does pom come from?
That is disputed, and we do not pick a side. The most cited account points to the Jewish-Portuguese community around Jodensavanne, settled on the Suriname River from the seventeenth century; others point to Creole cooking and the tayer already grown here. What is certain is that pom exists only in Suriname and its diaspora.
What is pomtayer?
Pomtayer is the tuber of a Xanthosoma, an arum-family plant related to taro. Grated and baked it gives pom its faintly sour, slightly sticky texture, which ordinary potato or taro does not reproduce.
What do you eat with pom?
Rice, or a bread roll: the "pom broodje" is what gets handed round at birthdays. In a Paramaribo Creole eating house a portion typically costs SRD 100 to SRD 200.