While the name may vary — mandioca in São Paulo and Minas Gerais, aipim in Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo, or macaxeira in the Northeast and parts of the North — cassava is one of Brazil’s culinary staples. Native to South America, where it has been grown since ancient times, cassava is now one of the main food sources for hundreds of millions of people around the world, particularly in poor countries.
The origins of consuming cassava in Brazil began with indigenous communities, who extracted the starch from the root to make tapioca, eaten in various forms around the world. The simplest use of the tapioca was to make flatbreads known in Brazil as biju, which can still be found around the country.
As cooking methods evolved, cassava root began to be boiled, baked, fried, or used to thicken stews. Along with corn, beans, and rice, it...
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