Pearls&Grit

A Fumbo is an interesting entity. What on earth is a Fumbo though? There is no actual definition of what makes a Fumbo, a Fumbo. Perhaps one can take a clue from the origination of the name? Not likely. The word “fumbo” was the brain-child of a four year old boy, chubby and dirty, with stars in his eyes for his darling mother. Perhaps from the object itself? Also unlikely. Fumbos are made in pan; 8×8 only. Cut into sixteen perfect tiny squares. No one can handle a Fumbo that is cut any larger. Sometimes the Fumbo pan comes out of the freezer, and sometimes it comes out of the oven. Sometimes it is tinted a rosy pink, with tiny jewels of maraschino cherries scattered through the crust. Sometimes a Fumbo resembles a thickened chocolate chip cookie, but when an unassuming consumer gnaws into a square, it is unmistakably not chocolate. Carob is the star of the show in most Fumbos. Once a pan of Fumbos appeared with green streaks. Now most people know that green streaks mean nasty business is afoot, but with a Fumbo, all it meant was pistachios were on sale at the market that week. My mother was the mastermind behind the Fumbo and her goal was to create something new, something revolutionary, that checked all the boxes: cheap, hardy, indestructible in the pocket of a rangy boy, healthy, easy, with just a shade of sweetness to satisfy the needs of a sweet tooth. Her dream was to win the Pillsbury Bake Off Contest with the ultimate trifecta in snack-like bar cookies. But there was something deeper underneath the unending 8×8 Fumbo variations. It was a woman, swallowed deep in her role as a mother, homemaker and banker, trying to find her individuality is a way that still helped the family. The days she was angry, the Fumbos were almost impossible to bite into, hardened by an oven turned up too hot and for too long. The days she was feeling good, the Fumbos proudly wore toasted coconut bits with real white chocolate swoops. The Fumbo was her headline. Her Michelangelo. Her ensign shouting to her world that she was still there.