Agrandir
A finales del siglo XVI el casabe fue desplazado por el trigo importado de España.
Agrandir
Si el macho no es asado en púa, no sabe igual.

I never imagined, during my childhood, that the snack prepared by both my father and my mother was a Taino sandwich. They would take the smoothest, driest cut of the pig meat roasted on a stick - the belly, they said - which is the one that tastes real good. They would pick a leaf of lettuce, spray the roast with some sprinkled salt, and everything would go to a cassava cover.
That preparation is the food that I will not trade for any delicacy I know. I had it as a child in my native Holguin and then in the entire eastern region; now and then, I get to come across some cassava sandwiches in Havana, but their pork meat is not barbecued and does not taste the same.
I cannot remember who the first person who told me that a Taino sandwich was his favorite food was. That was enough for me to delve into the history of this product called cassava which is made from manioc and originated in the founding towns of the islands and the Caribbean coast of this part of the world.
Centuries before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Antilles, the indigenous inhabitants had discovered the energetic and nutritional wealth of the yucca that elaborated by them became their staple food. It is one of the oldest roots of the ones cultivated in the New World and it is an essential element to make cassava.
Catebía is the flour resulting from peeling and grating the yuccas, a mass that is subsequently pressed. The flour is milled again and hovered, and then laid solid-soft on a fired clay or metallic surface. Cakes have initially diameters of ten to ninety centimeters and a thickness of two to four millimeters. After they are cooked on both sides they are dried in the open air, exposed to the sun or on a hot zinc plate...and that's it. Cassava is very useful, because it can be stored without danger of decomposition.
In addition to energy, this aboriginal food is rich in B and C vitamins. It also supplies minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium, and is valuable for the amount of fiber it provides.
Now, coming back to the Taíno sandwich: if you do not believe me, make one the first chance you have... and you will remember these lines.