Bread is probably the most important staple food in the world. There are many different types of bread, from the wheat or rye based loaves of Europe to Indian naan and the tortillas so ubiquitous in Latin American cuisine. For a taste of the Caribbean, you may want to casabe. This is a staple in countries like Jamaica and the Dominican Republic and is a type of flatbread made of cassava.

Cassava is a plant native to South America and the Caribbean. The most important part of this plant is its root, which is made up of a starchy white or yellow flesh covered in rough brown skin. Cassava roots can grow up to almost twelve inches in length and with a diameter of between two and four inches.

The first people to have cultivated cassava may have done so about twelve thousand years ago in the western parts of modern-day Brazil. By the time the Spanish arrived in the Americas, the root was a staple food in the northern parts of South America, throughout Central America and also in the Caribbean. The Portuguese took this plant as well as another staple food from the region, maize, to Africa where these two foods soon became the two most important crops. Today cassava is known throughout the tropics and its production in Africa and Asia surpasses that in Latin America.

Cassava root is very starchy and a great source of carbohydrates. It's also rich in the minerals calcium and phosphorus and in Vitamin C. If you're watching your salt and fat intake, you'll be happy to know that the root contains only negligible amounts of both.

The original inhabitants of the Caribbean region, the Carib and Arawak people, used cassava to make a flatbread hundreds of years ago and their descendants still enjoy this staple to this day. If you can get your hands on some cassava root and want to try making your own bread, you should first peel the root and then grate it into a pulp. Next, press out all the liquid, which is poisonous.

If you want, you can now add salt to the pulp. Mix everything well. Then form flat patties of cassava pulp in a hot frying pan or in a special mold. You shouldn't add oil. Cook on both sides until golden. When the bread cools down, it hardens.

Many people enjoy the bread by simply sprinkling it with a little salt and olive oil. Others add eggs, avocado or other toppings, almost like a tostada. Use it with dips like guacamole or add it to soups instead of croutons. You may even want to experiment with the bread as a type of pizza base.

To find cassava root outside of the tropics is not that easy. However, you may try stores that specialize in Caribbean or African foods. It may be easier to simply buy ready-made casabe. This you can buy from specialty stores, especially ones that cater to Dominican, Jamaican or other Caribbean clientele. Alternatively, you now have a great excuse for a trip to the Caribbean.