Sodmay-what is it?

I've come across this term looking at the internet. I was doing some research on recipes for stuffed peppers and cabbage and this came up. Sometimes its spelled sodamey or sodamee. It appears to be a "gypsy" recipe...meaning food of the Rom peoples. There are a number of foods mentioned in various You Tube clips no recipes or real descriptions and the videos are not very instructive. It also appears pinneaple upside down cake as well as cream puffs are favorites too. Pls advise.

What little I know is anecdotal, honestly, gleaned from a conversation with a Chicago cab driver based on interest piqued during study abroad in Romania. There is a Roma community in the Chicago area, but I know nothing about Roma cuisine. Since the Roma are spread all over Europe, it's possible that any individual dish is a hybrid. For instance, I recall a reading a piece several years ago about the Roma of the British Isles-a subset of the Travellers- renewing their awareness of Roma roots.
Here is a website devoted to just that topic. I did turn up this recipe for Joey Grey, a British Romany recipe.

It may be that the Roma community in Chicago is more likely than the British Romany community to include Roma who left Eastern Europe after WWII. Their cuisine may reflect this history.

It seems that Romani is only recently a written language. Perhaps that has something to do with the difficulty of turning up Roma recipes. If you are interested in further investigations, this excellent bibliography may hold a few clues. Some I turned up suggest a Roma connection to herbs, hops in particular. Elizabeth David's book on herbs and spices is listed in the bib linked above.

There is a recipe for stuffed cabbage in Gypsy Feast by Carol Wilson. Hurry, though, if you want to order it from Amazon. Only 6 copies left, and I plan to order my copy in moments. Thanks for the inspiration, toria.

Thanks. Very interesting. Here is something I found on You tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLewbLuO0kY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMznVWlViH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62Y6SCZDt1U

It appears sodmay is a kind of stew like thing tomato based. They also wrap it in cabbage leaves. There apparently is a large Roma community in Chicago. They certainly are not shy about posting stuff on You Tube, including recipes. Unfortunately they don't really explain what it is they are making in detail enough and there aren't other written recipes I could find.

I'll try making my stuffed peppers and cabbage on the top of the stove instead of baking them.

toria,

Now I'm hooked on another detour from what I should be doing. But, here is a tart recipe-in French, supposedly a "tzigane" recipe. It seems that "gypsy" or "gitane" or "tzigane" has been used as a modifier that suggests something exotic, but which may have little to do with Roma cooking in general. I wonder where this one fits in:

http://extmusic.com/recettes-tziganes.htm

As a side note, I did stumble across a French language site that features "Pied-Noir" (French nationals of pre-1962 Algeria) cooking that may be of interest to some here. It looks like they have their own LTH-thing going in Paris and Nantes. Note the announcement for their picnic at the Bois de Vincennes on September 5th! The second link shows pictures of what they ate. We are not alone. Total media domination is just a beginning, folks. What we're really after is world domination. But don't tell anyone.

http://www.cuisine-pied-noir.com/recettes.php
http://www.cuisine-pied-noir.com/news.php

Very interesting. I like to look at the pictures of their food. French definitely but also with North African influence. My guess is they are not Roma people though, just folks of north african descent.

I think we think of gypsies as exotic and in far away lands but there are lots in the U.S. Many are here in Chicago. Apparently their food has taken on the customs of the country they are in. Many of the clips they have posted on you tube extol pizza, chicago beef and other things everyone eats. Maybe someday we will find out what exactly sodmay is and how its made.

Another lead: a recipe for "jogray." This could be "Joey Grey," and "sodmay" could be a corruption of "Joey Grey" as well.

See this link:
http://www.romanyroad.co.uk/#/romany-recipes/4524588877

Interesting. I have not seen the dish Joe Gray on any of the U.S. sites I've looked at. Maybe it is the same as sodmay........... they both seem like a stew. So if you decide to make any gypsy dishes, listen to this to get you in the mood....cook with passion...............and the wraggle taggle gypsies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5qbO3AA ... re=related