Mandioca

(Manioc,Aipim,Cassava,Macaxera, Gari)

For our first post, here we have one of the most travelled ingredients originating from the Amazon, finding itself all over the Pacific and Africa much like the potatoes of Peru and an important starchy staple of the Indigenous Brazilian’s “Mani-oca”  

In mythology it is portrayed as a savior that protects against starvation. According to one story of a Tupi woman in Brazil, after she watched her child starve to death. She buried the child’s body under the floor of her hut. That night she was visited by a wood spirit, known as ‘mani’ who changed the child’s body into the roots of a plant, which as history tells us, became known as ‘mani oca’ meaning ‘wood spirit root’. The Mani oca became the chief staple food for generations of Indians of the Amazon and as far as the Caribbean. It is now considered the fourth largest and most important crop to come out of the tropics and it’s most popular and well known use in the western world, which many will not know, is Tapioca. Throughout South America, Africa and Asia Pacific it is a staple vegetable with a wide range of culinary, medical and industrious uses but to the Bohemian crowd, fried mandioca is a fantastic way of absorbing the many alcoholic beverages that will be consumed until saideira(the last drink that never ends)