Back to My Roots: Say Hello to CASSAVA
My parents are Jamaican. They were raised by their grandparents while their own parents set abroad to look for better opportunities which led them to eventually emigrate to the UK.
I suppose that without the influence of their birthplaces, their mutual disinterest for the kitchen, along with moving to Canada, away from any extended familiy, resulted in us growing up without much West Indian influence. Sure, I ate the occasional patty, or would have rice and peas but I typically shied away from what most would consider staple West Indian cuisine.. that is, until I got married.
One thing I wanted when considering starting a family of my own was for my children to have an awareness of their culture and develop an appreciation for all the things that individualize them being of Jamaican descent. They got that through their father, who was born and lived in Jamaica until his early teen years and being a trained chef handled majority of food responsibilities.
I’ve always associated some of Jamaica’s main cuisine from a North American perspective that included Jerk chicken, rice and peas, Ackie and saltfish, hard dough breads, and my personal fave, rum cake. So in pursuit of tackling wheat varieties indigenous to Jamaica, I was initially surprised to discover that wheat, cereals and rice are among the main imports to Jamaica. This led me to my first of many questions: If many of us have been conditioned to believe that wheat provides the main sustenance for our diets, how does this concept align to Jamaicans and the population among other West Indian islands if it is not available?
In my exploration of the answer, I went to the root of the matter….literally and figuratively.
Check out our 1st attempt at creating cassava flour from scratch!!!
Cassava, a root vegetable found in Jamaica was not a food that I was really acquainted with, but as I’ve looked more into, have discovered some truly interesting facts that I’m excited to share.
Check out our video, where we successfully made our own Cassava flour from scratch and be sure to follow along as I share more about this incredible root, it’s history, health properties, wheat comparison and more intriguingly, why it’s important and ways that we can incorporate it into our diets.
CASSAVA: Taking a Deeper Look
Go beyond my simple intro to this unique root and discover some truly exceptional findings and how Cassava’s benefits and uses go way beyond a simple flour replacement.
REFERENCES:
Predominantly Paleo by Jennifer Robins. (2016). Homemade Cassava Flour. Retrieved from https://predominantlypaleo.com/homemade-cassava-flour/