
Cassava crisis: the deadly food that doubles as a vital Venezuelan crop (2017) - curtis
https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2017/jun/22/cassava-deadly-food-venezuela
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Symmetry
There's a great book, _The Secret of Our Success_ , about many things
including how humans have adapted to many environments and Manioc is a
fascinating example in that. If you just soak Manioc until it no longer tastes
bitter you'll still be slowly poisoning yourself with SCN–. You have to soak
it for as long as your ancestors did if you want to live to old age. And
somehow people figured this out and managed to avoid taking shortcuts despite
not understanding the reasons for what they did. More precise copying between
generations, in both genes and culture, allows the accumulation of more total
complexity though change comes more slowly.

~~~
perl4ever
Reminds me of how I recently learned via the Internet that cooking kidney
beans with a slow cooker could be hazardous.

~~~
Gustomaximus
Googled this as I never knew either. Basically red kidney beans need to be
cooked at greater than 100c for 10min to remove a toxin. Not all slow cookers
reach this temp, hence the issue.

~~~
toomanybeersies
This is only for dried beans, canned beans are pre-cooked.

I used to be really paranoid about canned kidney beans and getting poisoned
for a long time. Then I discovered that the rule only applies to dried beans,
and fresh I guess as well.

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adrian_mrd
Is Cassava flour expensive in the countries where it is grown? In Western
Europe and Australia, it seems to be priced at approximately $9 AUD / €6 per
kilogram of flour and only available from selected specialty retailers or
health food stores.

Given it is such an important staple for 700 million people worldwide, made me
wonder whether its 'uniqueness' attracts a significant cost addition. Or maybe
the flour is (relatively) expensive, and not the tubers or edible parts of the
plant?

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jamesrcole
> _In ... Australia ... only available from selected specialty retailers or
> health food stores._

It can be found in the major supermarkets [https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-
fnq-townsville-aitke/every...](https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-
townsville-aitke/everything/search/Tapioca)
[https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/search/products?searchTer...](https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/search/products?searchTerm=Tapioca)

~~~
adrian_mrd
Sort of. Of the links you provided only one of them - at Coles New World! - is
for Cassava* Flour: [https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-townsville-
aitke/produ...](https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-townsville-
aitke/product/bobs-red-mill-whole-tapioca-flour) and online. I’ve never seen
it at my local Coles or Woolies (or Aldis, or Foodland, or IGA, etc)

The others are Tapioca starch or other products- not the same as flour.

* and even then it is called Tapioca Flour so may not be the same thing as Cassava Flour. It is some times difficult to distinguish between Tapioca (starch-heavy?) and Cassava (starch-moderate?)

~~~
jamesrcole
You missed the "arrowroot" flour, which is actually tapioca flour
[https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/226010/mc-...](https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/226010/mc-
kenzie-s-arrowroot-tapioca-flour)

There seems to be a bit of disagreement out there but most of the things I've
read say the flour and starch are the same thing.

~~~
adrian_mrd
Thanks, good to know about the Arrowroot flour being Tapioca flour.

Yeah, it is confusing determining what is flour and starch. Doesn’t help that
there are a variety of names eg Yuca (but not Yucca!), Manioca, Cassava, etc.

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colinhmit
The star of my favorite "mystery illness" article:

[https://www.damninteresting.com/the-curse-of-
konzo/](https://www.damninteresting.com/the-curse-of-konzo/)

“Polio outbreak. Memba District. 38 cases. Reflexes increased.”

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_bxg1
Apple seeds also contain small amounts of Cyanide. A couple seeds won't hurt
you, but I heard a story about a guy that roasted them like pumpkin seeds and
died after eating a couple handfuls.

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chris_mc
> crisis

> The last reported fatal cases of cassava poisoning occurred in February
> 2017.

Crisis? This article is so over the top it's not even funny.

~~~
adrian_mrd
The article is from June 2017, and it does state that “At least 28 people have
died as a result of eating bitter cassava”, but the word ‘crisis’ - at least
referring to any major problem outside of Venezuala - does seem a little bit
hyperbolic.

~~~
mschuster91
It is very well a crisis if people die en masse because they have to resort to
(potentially) toxic black market foods.

