Show food value of tapioca discovered in odd way tapioca which Is ot of native brazilian origin Is tho the name applied to a vegetable food obtained from the starch in tho roots of the plant known as bitter cassava which Is indigenous to tropical america according to a ratin latin american tradition tho the food value of the cassava root was accidentally discovered by a spanish explorer lost in the jungles of brazil lie he had heard beard from tho the indians that the sap of the cassava plant was highly poisonous onous and preferring a quick death by poison to ft a slow one by starvation he ate n bowl ot of soup prepared by bollene cassava roots in water instead of dying be ba lived to tell the world how this pleasant and digestible food saved him from starvation As a matter ot of fact the milky juice of the bitter cassava Is highly poisonous and therefore cannot be eaten in its ita natural condition without danger but the application of heat beat as tho the explorer discovered destroys the poisonous property I 1 |