Cassava, Manihot esculenta, also called manioc or yuca, is a starchy root crop domesticated in Brazil, though estimates for exactly when and where within Brazil vary by study. It was a staple of Amerindian communities such as the Tupinamba, encountered growing cassava by Portuguese arrivals in Bahia around 1500 and processed by them into meal and bread. The same Portuguese traders carried cassava to their West African coastal stations by the mid sixteenth century, provisioning slave ships bound for the Americas with it as farinha, and from those West African footholds cassava spread across the continent to become, after maize, one of Sub-Saharan Africa's most important staple foods, valued for tolerating poor soil and drought where other staples fail.
Facts
Disputed
Earliest Documented Use, From (Year)The Encyclopedia of Food and Culture hedges cassava domestication at maybe five thousand years ago; separate, more recent genomic studies of Brazilian germplasm propose a substantially older date, over ten thousand years, that this atlas does not adopt outright because that work remains a preprint rather than a peer reviewed publication. A wide range is given rather than a single year. Origin RegionBrazil (a reference encyclopedia places domestication along Brazil's southern border; separate genetic studies instead point to west-central Brazil or the wider Amazon basin, so the exact locale within Brazil is not settled) 1 The Encyclopedia of Food and Culture places domestication somewhere in Central or South America, perhaps along the southern border of Brazil, itself a hedge; more recent comparative genomic studies of Brazilian germplasm instead centre wild populations in west-central Brazil. This atlas gives the published reference-work claim as its citable figure rather than an unreviewed preprint. Connections
Used By
Source Abacha (food) (Wikipedia)
Source Attieke (Wikipedia)
Cassava is an Indigenous Taino staple carried into Caribbean cooking.
Source Caribbean Cuisine (Wikipedia)
Source Chikwangue (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Encebollado
Source Larousse Gastronomique
Source Hallaca - Wikipedia
Source Llapingacho (Wikipedia)
Source Larousse Gastronomique
Source Pichi-pichi (Wikipedia)
Source Tapioca chips (Wikipedia)
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Brazil, originated there.
Sources
1. Cassava (Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, via Encyclopedia.com)
Encyclopedia.comLead sectionQuote, Lead section
Cassava, or manioc (Manihot esculenta), is a root crop native to tropical America that is now consumed by millions of people throughout the tropics, and is used in food preparation in many industrialized processes.
The Oxford Companion to Food
Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press, 2014Used By: West African Cuisine
Caribbean Cuisine (Wikipedia)
Larousse Gastronomique
Hamlyn, 2009- Used By: Nigerian Cuisine, entry: Cassava
- Used By: Ghanaian Cuisine, entry: Cassava
Attieke (Wikipedia)
Used By: Attieke, Infobox main_ingredient field: Fermented and grated cassavaView the Source Wikipedia: Bammy
Hallaca - Wikipedia
Used By: Hallaca, Infobox main_ingredient field: cornmeal dough or cassava dough, meat (beef, pork, chicken), raisins, capers, olivesView the Source Wikipedia: Encebollado
Used By: Encebollado, Infobox main_ingredient field: Fish (albacore or other tuna or billfish), cassava, pickled red onionsView the Source Gethuk (Wikipedia)
Used By: Gethuk, Infobox main_ingredient field: Cassava, coconut, sugarView the Source Chikwangue (Wikipedia)
Matapa (Wikipedia)
Used By: Matapa, Infobox main_ingredient field: Young cassava leavesView the Source Llapingacho (Wikipedia)
Used By: Llapingacho, Infobox main_ingredient field: Mashed potatoes or yuca, cheeseView the Source Virado (Wikipedia)
Used By: Virado, Infobox main_ingredient field: beans, pork, manioc flour, fried sausage; breaded and fried plantain, eggs, kale, rice, torresmo (a crisply cooked pork rind)View the Source Chupe - Wikipedia
Pichi-pichi (Wikipedia)
Used By: Pichi-pichi, infobox main_ingredient fieldQuote, Used By: Pichi-pichi, infobox main_ingredient field
Coconut milk, cassava, lye, sugar
Farofa (Wikipedia)
Used By: Farofa, lead paragraphQuote, Used By: Farofa, lead paragraph
Farofa (Brazilian Portuguese: [fa'ɾɔfɐ]) is toasted cassava meal.
Casabe (Wikipedia)
Used By: Casabe, lead paragraphQuote, Used By: Casabe, lead paragraph
Casabe or cassava bread is a flatbread made of cassava, eaten across the Caribbean Basin and the Amazon.
Tapioca chips (Wikipedia)
Used By: Tapioca chips, lead paragraphQuote, Used By: Tapioca chips, lead paragraph
Tapioca chips are a snack food made from thin wafers of deep-fried cassava root.
Abacha (food) (Wikipedia)
Used By: Abacha (food), lead paragraphQuote, Used By: Abacha (food), lead paragraph
Abacha is a product of cassava tubers.
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