kasabi
cassava
English from Taíno
“The Taíno's staple root crop now feeds 800 million people — making it one of the most important foods most Westerners have never heard of.”
Cassava comes from Taíno kasabi (also caçabi) — their word for the starchy root that was the Caribbean's primary food crop. The Taíno processed it into bread (casabe) that could last for months.
Cassava is remarkable: it grows in poor soil, survives drought, and produces more calories per acre than almost any other crop. The Taíno mastered its preparation — raw cassava contains cyanide and must be processed.
Portuguese brought cassava to Africa in the 16th century, where it became a staple. Today Nigeria is the world's largest cassava producer. The Taíno crop feeds West Africa.
The word has variants worldwide: manioc (from Tupi), tapioca (from Tupi tipióka, the starch), yuca (Spanish). All describe the same plant the Taíno cultivated.
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Today
Cassava feeds 800 million people in the developing world. It's the third largest source of carbohydrates in the tropics, after rice and maize.
The Taíno processing techniques — grating, squeezing, drying — are still used essentially unchanged. Some technologies are perfected from the start.
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