Diffusion of Cassava Detoxification in Africa: A Reconsideration of its Biocultural History

Abstract

Cassava detoxification methods in Africa were reconsidered in its natural and cultural settings. 1) A new flowchart provides unified keys to identifying the basic principle of cassava detoxification of the world. It organizes the chaotic descriptions of its cooking methods from the views of ethnoecology and ethnomicrobiology. 2) It reconsiders historical and ethnographic data reported from Africa. They are supplemented with the data from the author’s fieldwork in tropical Africa and other reliable sources. As a result of continuous Africanization, eight types of cassava detoxification were identified. Each of the six major types had respective geographical agglomeration in Africa. 3) A sparsely distributed type was applied from other toxic plants and was regarded to have its origin in the tradition of ancient hunter-gathers of the “green” Sahara. 4) A map was made to reconstruct historical routes along which the cassava detoxification has spread in Africa. South America and Asia had only two types each of cassava detoxification, and the reasons for African complexity and dependence on fermentation were discussed. Recent trials to introduce more effective methods for cassava detoxification were criticized from the historical lessons from the biocultural history of Africa.