Mumbo sauce or mambo sauce is a
condiment
A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to impart a specific flavor, to enhance the flavor, or to complement the dish. A table condiment or table sauce is more specifically a condiment that is served separat ...
developed and popularized in
Washington, D.C.
)
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take-out
A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...
restaurants
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
. The red-orange sauce is similar to
barbecue sauce, but somewhat sweeter, and also somewhat spicier or more sour. (There is some variation in flavor and consistency.) It is put onto fried
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...
wings,
french fries, fried jumbo shrimp, and
fried rice
Fried rice is a dish of cooked rice that has been stir-fried in a wok or a frying pan and is usually mixed with other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables, seafood, or meat. It is often eaten by itself or as an accompaniment to another dish. ...
. The origin and ingredients of Mumbo sauce are subject to great dispute. It is often compared to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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mild sauce
Mild sauce is a condiment, similar to barbecue sauce and mumbo sauce. It was made popular by fried chicken and barbecue restaurants on the South and West Sides of Chicago such as Harold's Chicken Shack, Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken, and Lem's ...
, found at
take-out
A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...
restaurants
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
in that city’s predominantly
Black neighborhoods.
History
The trademark Mumbo name was first used by Argia B. Collins Sr., for use in connection with a barbecue sauce he developed for his Chicago restaurant. Since at least as early as 1950, Mr. Collins and his business used this trademark, and his successor-in-interest, Select Brands, LLC, registered the trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on May 25, 1999, Registration No. 2,247,855. The Mumbo trademark has been used for sauces, and appears on labels as part of the phrase Mumbo® Sauce.
Some people have used the term "Mumbo Sauce" in articles, internet blogs and advertisements for their sauce products, in connection with a sauce said to have originated in Washington, DC Chinese restaurants used on chicken wings, French fries, and fried rice. Select Brands has challenged such uses as incorrect and as potential infringements of its Mumbo trademark.
However, according to Capital City Mumbo Sauce, the sauce originated in a restaurant called "Wings-n-Things" in the late 1960s. Since Argia's Mumbo Sauce can be traced back to the 1950s (before it showed up at Wings-N-Things) it's speculated that the DC version is a transplanted version of the original Chicago sauce. Recently, after two years of court battles, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board found that a D.C.-based company could not take the name from its Chicago founder.
In 2018, DC Mayor
Muriel Bowser
Muriel Elizabeth Bowser (born August 2, 1972) is an American politician serving since 2015 as the eighth mayor of the District of Columbia. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 4th ward as a member of the Counci ...
drew national attention when she called Mumbo Sauce "annoying" in a Facebook post. She also questioned whether it was "quintessential" DC. Her comments sparked controversy, while her spokesperson said that her remarks were meant to liven Thanksgiving discussions.
Cultural references
* The DC go-go group
Mambo Sauce
Mumbo sauce or mambo sauce is a condiment developed and popularized in Washington, D.C. take-out restaurants. The red-orange sauce is similar to barbecue sauce, but somewhat sweeter, and also somewhat spicier or more sour. (There is some varia ...
derived their name from the condiment.
* The DC hip-hop artist
Christylez Bacon
Christylez Bacon (pronounced: Chris-Styles) (born March 5, 1986) is a hip hop music artist and multi-instrumentalist from Southeast Washington, Washington, DC.
He was nominated for a Grammy in 2010 for ''Banjos to Beatbox'', a children's album ...
performs a song about Mambo sauce.
* Black Flag Brewing Co., a brewery in Columbia, MD has a beer named Mambo Sauce after the sauce.
* Writer Camille Acker features a story called "Mambo Sauce" in her debut short story collection "Training School for Negro Girls"
* The event series based out of DC entitled Chicken & Mumbo Sauce
References
External links
*
{{portal bar, Food
American Chinese cuisine
Food and drink in Washington, D.C.
Sauces