We are often asked why we named our business Bangbelly. It’s a funny sounding word, and some people even think it’s kind of… suggestive. Can you blame them?
The answer to this oft-asked question is simple. After a long brainstorming process, many almost-right names (and a few disagreements) we landed on the entry for Bangbelly in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English.
It was perfect.
Here’s what we read:
bangbelly n Cp N & Q ([1914] 1940) 22 June, p. 434 W. A pudding, cake or pancake, originally prepared by fishermen and men in the woods, made with flour, fat pork, etc, and boiled, baked or fried, now usu served as dessert; also attrib.
1896 J A Folklore ix, 35 ~ a low and coarse word denoting a boiled pudding consisting of flour, molasses, soda, etc, and not uncommonly seal-fat instead of suet. 1937 DEVINE 7 Bangbellies. Pancakes made of flour, fat and molasses, fried on a pan. 1939 DULEY 17 In the winter the stomach was frequently filled with the bulk of pea-soup floating with fat white bang-bellies. [1894-1929] [1960 BURKE] (ed White) 41 “McGinnis at the Rink”: And his bullseyes were plastered all over his face / Like the whorts in a bang-belly pie. T 96-642 You can make up the bangbelly with bread soda and flour, mix it together and fat pork in it, cut it into squares; it’s lovely. C 69-10 To make bangbelly you put blueberries, sugar and hot water in a pot and add a pinch of salt. When it begins to boil you drop in doughballs and let it continue boiling until the doughballs are cooked and the blueberries are thick. Serve it hot. 1973 BARBOUR 47 [Tea] consisted of a slice of molasses bread, raisin buns, pork toutons, or bang-belly.
So, it can be many things. And everyone we talk to has their own understanding of, and some even their own recipe for, Bangbelly. This we like.
As Newfoundlanders-By-Choice (a.k.a CFAs) we often have our own take on traditional Fogo Island fare. Bangbelly just so happens to be one of those dishes.
If you’ve yet to try Bangbelly, we highly recommend a visit around breakfast time, when you can try our “Chitty Chitty Bangbelly”, which comes with mustard pickle, two poached eggs, and a warm kale salad. Yes Please!
