Cassava Lovin'

In case you don't know yet, I am a foodie. I love cooking and being able to experiment with different flavours and food types. Living at the Iwokrama Field Station, I am served a buffet style meal three times a day. Already, I miss cooking! Our breakfast is bread (with peanut butter if there is enough after the guests have been served). Lunch and dinner have been rice and chicken, rice and chicken, or rice and chicken. I used to love rice and chicken, but It is difficult to eat plain white with chicken bits meal after meal, day after day. Once we had chicken foot soup with potatoes...a slight change. This afternoon, I was very excited, because a local dish has come back on the menu- Cassava!

Cassava is a local carbohydrate staple that is harvested in the villages around Iwokrama. It serves as the main portion of Iwokrama's local Amerindian community of Fairview's diet. They prepare it in many different ways, one of them being Farine. Farine is the fiber of the Cassava after the starch has been removed from it. The Cassava fibers are placed in a pan and roasted until all the water is removed from them. This is done to keep the Cassava in a form that can be preserved. Then, they soak and boil the Cassava fibers, which turns into a cous-cous-like dish. Tres delish! I am so grateful this dish has landed on the menu. There are so many ways to experiment with Cassava and I look forward to trying all the different ways the Amerindians in Guyana prepare Cassava.