https://medium.com/@NoorScience/the-elusive-your-black-muslim-bakery-fishsandwich-d6c77399f21a#.

8vv38uppn

The Elusive Your Black Muslim Bakery Fish

Sandwich
by Walasia Noor Shabazz
originally published on OaklandLocal.com
Yusuf Bey IV, of the now-defunct Your Black
Muslim Bakery, is on trial for the alleged
murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey; but
what does his innocence until proven guilty
have to do with their beloved Fish
Sandwiches and Pies?
This may be the best fish sandwich you
ever have.Matt C. of San Francisco, CA
on Yelp.com. He added a 4-star rating on
April 26, 2007
At the height of success, the Your Black
Muslim Bakery (YBMB) bakeries, shops &
restaurants were headquartered at 5832
San Pablo Avenue, with 5 branches in
Alameda County including #2 on Telegraph
Avenue, and satellites at the Oakland
Airport & Oakland Coliseum.
Adam A-Plus Carter, co-founding member
of Hieroglyphics with Del the Funky

Homosapien, fondly recalls memories of

YBMB. We traveled so much and they had
the best food in the airport in Oakland.
For the Hieroglyphics crew, it was a favorite
Oakland restaurant, Adam explains, whose
absence has left a hole in hearts and
stomachs. Nowhere now does food taste
that good and healthy. They had Spirulina
drink, carrot juice, sorrel (Jamaica), and
ginseng. I can remember exactly the taste
in memory, but I guess Ill never taste it
again.
The recipes developed by the Bey family
were prepared in accordance with AlQuran, and no refined sugars nor
preservatives were ever used. The
restaurant was founded by Dr. Bey in 1968
in Santa Barbara. In 1971, Bey relocated
the bakery to Oakland and by 1974 YBMB
was the largest Bay Area bakery
specializing exclusively in natural food
products, distributing to 150 stores, selling
over 6,000 loaves of bread and 300+ cakes
per week.

As yelped by Matt C. of SF, people from

all walks of life purchased foods, beverages
& baked goods at the shops on San Pablo in
Emeryville and Telegraph in Temescal.
Rastafarian musician & community activist
Ras Ceylon recalls that the YBMB were the
best place to get sorrel, a traditionally
Jamaican beverage brewed from Hibiscus
flowers. The call was, lets go get YBMB
Fish sandwiches and a sorrel, and a Final
Call paper (they used to sell it there). On
the whiting sandwich, I loved the sauce
especially.
Lamenting the loss of his favorite foods and
drink, Ceylon exclaimed, Since then only
homemade stuff has been a good
substitute. I sorely miss the Your Black
Muslim Bakery, Jah know!
If you mention the words fish sandwich in
a conversation with a foodie, or even a
standard Oakland resident; theres a 100%
chance that the Your Black Muslim Bakery
Whiting sandwich will be the next topic of

conversation.
There is something to be said for the
decline in the neighborhoods that used to
have a Bakery down the street or around
the cornerin the YBMB heyday, the areas
surrounding the shops had heavy foot
traffic from families & customers, giving
those blocks a community feel. As a child
my mother purchased our bread from the
bakery and if she was in a good mood, my
mother would treat my sisters and I to the
Honey Carrot Cake Muffins,
Oakland resident Jasmene Miranda, who
works as a producer, recalls. My elder
cousin Abdul informed us of how important
it was to support the restaurant and how we
should appreciate the beautiful decor & the
fact that it was owned by African
Americans. Unlike some of todays
Oakland, Emeryville & Berkeley restaurants,
the YBMB locations prided themselves on
superior customer service & a unique,
delicious, healthful product. According to
Ms. Miranda, they served good, healthy

food and always treated me with respect.

UC Berkeley studentand Oakland Local
fellow contributorReginald James is
another local who laments the loss of the
Whiting sandwich.
In hindsight, there was a freshness about
the ingredients that made you think you
were getting a taste of the hereafter, he
says, invoking one of the slogans of the
Your Black Muslim Bakery.
And besides the sandwich, the YBMBs
dessertssuch as Honey Carrot Pie,
Blueberry Cheese Pie, Honey Carrot Cake
Muffinswere the stuff of legend. None
more so than the traditionally-prepared
Bean Pie, which is considered a Muslim
recipe containing Navy Beans and is known
by anyone who lives in an urban center
where there is an African-American mosque
or masjid, or a branch of the Nation of
Islam.
According to Mr. James, There is huge void
in the bean pie market these days. I used to

get bean pies from Masjid Warithdeen in

East Oakland, and I remember riding my
bike to the Ashby Flea Market last year on a
bean pie mission.
So is there anywhere to get baked goods
anything like those prepared by YBMB back
in the day?
Perhaps the last man standing is the
member of the Nation of Islam, most likely
from East Oaklands Muhammad Mosque
#26, who proudly sells pies & papers on the
island under the BART tracks on across from
Childrens Hospital near MLK and 51st. He is
very polite and professional, prepared to
sell an NOI-baked Bean Pie in a pink bakery
box along with a copy of The Final Call.
But sadly for Oakland, CA residents and
anyone who ever enjoyed the foods of
YBMB the Fish Sandwich, Bean Pie and
delicious baked goods, Yusef Bey is
presently on trial for his life and all thats
left of the Your Black Muslim Bakeries are
mere memories of an Oakland of
yesteryear.