Motif
poisonous root transformed into staple food
poisonous_root_transformed_into_staple_food
A motif of the Culture Hero and Founder family. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.
1 occurrences
1 traditions
amazonian
-
The North-West Amazons: Notes of Some Months Spent Among Cannibal Tribes CHAPTER VI / CHAPTER VII / CHAPTER VIII / CHAPTER IX; lines 4543-4644 confidence: medium
Manioc is grated in a trough with palm-spine teeth, placed in a palm-cane or palm-fibre wringer, compressed until poisonous juice drains away, and dried into flour; different tribes use different wringer forms.
The passage describes draining poisonous juice from manioc, converting the residue into flour and bread, and identifying cassava as the staple or 'staff of life.'
read in the book →