By: La Shawna Griffith
Bajan cultural icon and entertainer Peter ‘Peter Ram’ Wiggins took centre stage at the Gully Roast held at Farm Road in St. George, offering heartfelt memories of a tradition that is as deeply rooted in Barbadian soil as the towering breadfruit trees that dot the landscape. Whilst attending the We Gatherin Gully Roast Ram shared the story of his family’s longstanding history with gully roasting, a tradition that spans generations and continues to bind the St. George community through shared food.
Ram recalled growing up in what was affectionately called “The Forest,” a part of the district that was rich with fruit trees and surrounded by gullies. “We lived further up from where I probably live now,” he began. “Through the gully, over Workmans, you could get breadfruit and mangoes easy. Every time we passed through there, we would come back home, light a fire, and start roasting.”
Unlike today’s elaborate cooking trends, gully roasting in Ram’s youth was simple, economical, and profoundly communal. Breadfruit, butter (wrapped in brown paper from Miss Thomas’ or Miss Nurse’s shop), and a dash of pepper sauce were the main ingredients. “No pulled pork or tuna fish, we used to go and get butter… roasted the breadfruit and it’s butter and pepper sauce,” he said with a nostalgic chuckle.
Ram also educated the audience on a lesser-known delicacy born of tradition — the breadfruit “biscuit.” After roasting, they would scrape the breadfruit clean of ash with a knife or coconut shell. “You cut the breadfruit, add butter and pepper sauce, and sandwich it with another piece. When you bite into it, it’s like a biscuit. The skin would get crispy and we used to eat all of that.”
“You had to be a breadfruit specialist to know yellow meat from white,”
This tradition was more than just culinary. It was social, spiritual, and even inventive. Ram spoke of a few Rastamen who lived in nearby caves who also roasted breadfruit. He remembered how pork lovers would cut into the stem of the breadfruit and insert a pigtail before roasting, adding another dimension of flavor. His brothers, he noted proudly, were so skilled that they could tell exactly when the breadfruit was done and would time it so that as soon as the wood had finished burning, the breadfruit would be roasted to perfection.
Among the other community rituals were breadfruit roasting under an ackee tree, cart racing at Workmans, and gathering around makeshift fires built between two bricks or stones. Ram described it as a “sky pudding”- breadfruit plucked high from trees, with each one offering different textures and tastes. “You had to be a breadfruit specialist to know yellow meat from white,” he said, laughing. “It was about how the milk flowed from the fruit.”
Ram also paid tribute to the older generation of roasters, many of whom have passed on, including his brother Ruben. “Rest in peace to all the roasters,” he said solemnly. “But I know they smiling, to see the young ones here still,”.
In a time when digital distractions and fast-paced living threaten to erase such rituals, Peter Ram’s storytelling reminded all present that traditions like gully roasting are more than just meals as they are memories, history, and community nestled together by wood, smoke and fire.
