PEACEMEAL - Modest Tuber Enjoys Legendary Status, Worldwide Recognition (Commentary)

(Taro, or `Dasheen'. CREDIT: Wikipedia) This heart-shaped plant offers a lens to Hawaii, one of America’s ethnic cultures

-- by Cynthia Thomet                                  

There was no specific name for the dish I selected at a dim sum lunch this weekend. The server told me it was taro with pork and I was sold. (The best way to get me to buy anything is by saying it has pork. In a future PeaceMeal column, I may end up writing about pork, a food I absolutely adore, but today I thought I would write a little bit about the taro root, which grows in some of the worlds most exotic, beautiful and tropical climates.)

For those of you not familiar with taro, you might have passed by the modest root in your local health food store. It looks like a cross between a yam for its size and a beet for its purple-brown and textured exterior. Maybe you have seen taro wrapped in a shiny potato chip bag, posing as a dark-hued, veiney crisp, seducing your inner health nut with the tried-and-true treatment of dropping thin slivers of the root in hot oil

I first learned about “Taro” in the United States’ 50^th state, Hawaii. Taro, also known as kalo in Hawaiian, is much starchier than a potato. Its leaves are large, green, flat and heart-shaped.

My taro dish was combined with bits of pork and deep-fried into a type of fritter—almost like an Indian pakora. When I bit into its crispy bird’s nest exterior and melted into its soft interior, memories of my days on Maui sprang to mind.

What’s fascinating about this produce is that it has varieties that can grow as abundantly in dry terraces in the hills as in muddy plains at sea level. Or they can also be cultivated in watery ponds that the Hawaiians called lo`i.

(Girls pounding Poi in Hawaii. CREDIT: C. Thomet) In Hawaii, the legend has it that Kane (Sky Father) and Papa (Earth Mother) had a stillborn son named Haloa, whom they buried. The taro leaf sprang from Haloa’s grave and became the physical embodiment of the divine son of Kane and Papa. Future children borne by the Sky Father and Earth Mother sustained themselves with the food provided by their older brother, Haloa, whose name means “everlasting breath”. As such, the ingestion of taro was not simply a physical act, but a spiritual act that connected the Hawaiian people with their godly ancestors.

Whether or not you believe in the legend, it is undeniable that taro is almost like a supernatural food that could unite the peoples of Nigeria, Ghana, China, Egypt and Nepal if only because the taro is common to all of them. Just pick your favorite from the host of names out there for it—dasheen, inhame, pindaloo, for example—and you might find you have already tried this robust tuber under a different identity.

In researching this story, I discovered that as a child, I really used to enjoy a soupy dish made with taro leaves called callaloo from my native Trinidad (here’s a recipe for it). I never knew it was made with taro, because it was called dasheen.  

(Taro Root)I don’t know if there are other cultures that celebrate this root with festivities, but Hawaiians are already gearing up for their annual East Maui Taro Festival, which is scheduled for the end of April. Every year the event draws hundreds of residents from all around Maui, the Hawaiian Islands and even from around the world to participate in activities and remind residents and visitors of the reproductive nature of this important produce. As in years past, participants will enjoy live music and entertainment, participate in pounding poi (a soft, almost gummy food pounded with a traditional Hawaiian pestle, called a pohaku, made of stone) and also enjoy variations on taro, like poi ice cream!

Besides the potentially meditative element of pounding poi, the events surrounding this annual festival in general send an important message about sustainable agriculture, food production basic home-cooking, and our place—as humans—in our environments.

(A bowl of Poi. CREDIT Wikipedia)

If you take the opportunity to take the ever-winding road to the secluded town of Hana in East Maui, you might see protests from locals calling to end the diversion of stream waters by large agricultural companies who have access to source waters. But you can also take the trip from your computer by visiting the Kapahu Farms online and taking a panoramic tour.

If a gastronomical tour more suits your tastes, visit an ethnic eatery (a Chinese or a Caribbean restaurant will probably do the trick just fine) and ask what they have on the menu that includes taro. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Who knows? You may be priming yourself for your next trip to an exotic culture!

--- The author is Cynthia Thomet, a humanitarian, and co owner and doyenne of the award winning downtown Atlanta, Georgia; US restaurant, Lunacy Black Market. You can find Cynthia's own blog here: http://thoughtfulcyn.wordpress.com/.   Her columns for HUMNEWS search for the intersection between food and humanity, and how meals unite us.