Built structures · Terraces, platforms and stands
Rama tapesco smoking rack
A Rama cultural account distinguishes a small kitchen tapesco from a larger courtyard rack covered with bijagua leaves and placed over firewood. It records a particular smoking arrangement, not a standard design.
A raised rack in two settings
Tapesco is the name used in Antonia McCoy's Rama cultural account for a raised rack used when smoking meat or fish. The account distinguishes a kitchen tapesco for smaller quantities from a courtyard rack made when the amount is larger. The distinction describes one Rama source, not a standard Nicaraguan smokehouse or a claim that every household uses the same arrangement.
The courtyard arrangement
For the larger-quantity example, the text says to make a tapesco in the courtyard, cover it with bijagua leaves, place firewood below and smoke for three days. It does not describe the rack's material, dimensions, supports, fastening, or how smoke and heat are regulated. The reported duration belongs to this account; it is not a universal schedule or a validated safety endpoint.
Sources for this section
What the record does not establish
The source preserves a specific cultural description but does not date the practice's origin, identify a precise community for this passage, or give construction plans. It also does not specify meat or fish preparation, fuel amounts, temperature, finished-product criteria, or storage. The 2021 reprint identifies the chapter with Rama food culture; a UCL study's title supports Nicaragua at country level, not a more precise location.
History
Antonia McCoy's Rama cultural chapter, reproduced in a 2021 issue of Revista de Temas Nicaragüenses from a 2012 cultural booklet, records two smoking contexts. The publication does not date the origin of the tapesco or establish one design across Rama communities.
Site
A build is made where it stands: moving it means building it again.
How it is built
Materials
- Tapesco rack (construction material unspecified) — The account names a raised rack but does not describe its members, material, joints or dimensions.
- Bijagua leaves — The courtyard arrangement is covered with bijagua leaves.
- Firewood — The cultural account places firewood beneath the courtyard rack.
- For a small quantity of meat or fish, the account says smoking takes place on a tapesco in the kitchen.
- When the amount is larger, the account describes making a tapesco in the courtyard.
- In that courtyard arrangement, bijagua leaves cover the rack and firewood is placed below it.
- The account reports smoking for three days in this larger-quantity example; it does not present this as a universal duration or a validated process endpoint.
Places
Nicaragua
Traditional use · Country evidenceCountry-level association only. The cited smoking passage does not identify one specific community or a universal national design.
Community
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Sources
Antonia McCoy; Revista de Temas Nicaragüenses, March 2021 reprint of Cuaderno cultural Rama (2012)Method · Materials · History
La Cultura Rama, Revista de Temas Nicaragüenses 155The account says small quantities of meat or fish are smoked on a kitchen tapesco.
For larger amounts, it describes making a courtyard tapesco, covering it with bijagua leaves, placing firewood below, and smoking for three days.
The passage supplies no dimensions, rack construction details, fuel quantity, endpoint, seasonal calendar or origin date.
Cited in: A raised rack in two settings; The courtyard arrangement; What the record does not establish
Andrew Papworth, University College London, Department of GeographyGeography
An analysis of the food security of the Rama indigenous group, NicaraguaThe thesis title identifies its subject as the Rama indigenous group in Nicaragua; it supports country-level association only, not a specific tapesco location.
Cited in: A raised rack in two settings; What the record does not establish