Guayiga and Marunguey are Taino

Did You Know: Traditionally, Taino People made special use of a type of cycad plant species in the Zamia family that grows in several varieties throughout the Caribbean, the Bahamas, and even Florida (Zamia pumila, Zamia debilis, Zamia amblyphyllidia, Zamia integriflora, etc). This plant is known as guayiga in Kiskeia (Dominican Republic), it also is known as marunguey in Borikén (Puerto Rico). The indigenous Seminole Peoples of Florida call it Coonti. In Kuba (Cuba) these plants are known as Yuquilla de ratón or Yuquilla de paredón. While guayiga/marunguey is extremely poisonous, the Taino learned to make a bread called Chola or Cholla, out of its roots. The production of this bread is similar to that of Taino kasabe (yuka/cassava/manioc bread). According to local traditional knowledge, once the bread is made, it is left outside, and when insects begin to land on it, the bread is deemed ready to be consumed as the poisons have been sufficiently extracted. Today, on the island of Kiskeia, the communities of Higuey and Haina produce most of the chola bread made on the island. – UCTP Taino News © 2013 

Kasabi: Bread made from iuka (yuca)

DID YOU KNOW: Traditionally, bread made from iuka or cassava is known in the Taíno language as kasabi or kasabe. It was created by grating iuka (yuca, cassava/manioc) flour into flat disks and roasting them on flat ceramic griddles called burén over a cooking fire. Today, the baking of kasabi, now more commonly called kasabe, is modernized for increased production, but it is still presented in the original flat, round style. Whether made from bitter or sweet varieties of iuka/manioc, kasabi is known to preserve exceedingly well with a preservative-free shelf life of about 8 months. In the time of the ancient Taino, it was taken on long journeys over land and sea without spoiling, providing a sometimes a much-needed burst of carbohydrates. The bitter cassava is said to produce a kind of kasabi that was virtually “unassailable by vermin” since it retained a small amount of hydrocyanic toxin harmless to humans but harmful or deadly to insects and rodents. Hab jao (jab jao) is the Taíno name still given to the thinnest kasabi in Kiskeia (Dominican Republic). According to Taino tradition hab hao or hau hau (xau xau) was reserved for community leaders and dignitaries. Since the 1970s, kasabe production in Kiskeia has expanded the availability of this ancient Taino culinary tradition from the local to international markets. - © 2012 UCTP Taino News

References

De las Casas, B. (1875). Historia de las Indias (Vol. 1). Imprenta de Miguel Ginesta. (Original work written 1559–1561).

Rouse, I. (1992). The Taínos: Rise and decline of the people who greeted Columbus. Yale University Press.