Cassava

Cassava, also called manioc, yuca, macaxeira, mandioca, aipim, or agbel, comes from Amazonia. It grows as a perennial, woody shrub.

#Human relationship

Humans domesticated cassava many millennia ago. It served as a staple crop for many Native American societies prior to European contact, after which humans spread it to every corner of the globe. After the collapse of civilization, cassava became increasingly popular. As a tropical plant that could tolerate periodic drought, it had an advantage in a warmer, wetter, more chaotic world. It also produced more calories for the work one invested in it than any other crop. That said, a community can’t exactly dabble in a relationship with cassava. Either it must commit to cassava, committing to gardening and village life, or have little relationship with cassava at all.

Cassava comes in sweet and bitter varieties, but both contain dangerous toxins that can cause goiters, ataxia, partial paralysis, or even death. Bitter cassava varieties deter pests but contain more of these toxins. For this reason, most people avoid these bitter varieties unless extraordinary circumstances have left them with little other choice.

One must carefully prepare cassava to make it safe to eat. The “wetting method” involves mixing cassava flour and water to form a thick paste, spreading that paste into a thin layer over a basket, and then leaving it to stand for five hours in the shade. Another method involves peeling the roots and leaving them in water for three days to ferment, then drying and cooking them.

With bitter varieties, preparation becomes even more important, often involving peeling and grating the root, soaking the gratings in water for four days to allow leaching and fermentation to take place, then cooking it thoroughly until it becomes soft.

Once processed, cassava flour can become breads, cakes, or alcoholic beverages. People in Africa and of recent African descent will often make cassava flour into the staple food fufu, to eat with stews. Additionally, those who possess some means of frying food like to grate and lightly fry them in palm oil to make gari.

#Cassava People

As mentioned before, cassava demands a degree of exclusivity from those people who wish to form a relationship with it, requiring a commitment to gardening and village life. That said, it can still form those villages in a number of unique ways. Some examples include:

#Species

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