"Do you know what Cassava looks like?"

“Do you know what Cassava looks like?” Andrew asks me as the two of us are walking up to the Benson Street market corner. It’s a fair question. As it turns out neither of us know what a Cassava looks like, but Andrew knows it’s a root vegetable and I know it’s supposed to cost 50 Liberty (50 Liberian dollars = .71 USD) and that seems like enough information to me. I am on a mission to learn how to cook Cassava and the first step is to buy a Cassava.

All four corners of the intersection have vendors covering the sidewalks and spilling onto the streets. The vendors are selling fruits and vegetables and fresh fish caught from the ocean and tiny crabs and greens from various plants, other various edible things too.

We try the vendors at the southeast corner and they do not have Cassava. They point us towards the southwest corner. The southwest corner vendors do not have Cassava. They point us towards the northwest corner. The northwest corner vendors do not have Cassava. I begin to suspect we may be told to try the northeast corner, but instead Andrew manages to start a conversation with one of the vendor ladies.

She offers to run and get us the Cassava for 100 Liberty (twice the real price) but we refuse. Andrew then asks if She could just show us where to go. At this She gets up and beckons us to follow with a hand-wave, but not before going one more round with Andrew.
“100 Liberty”
“No Ma’am. 50 Liberty.”

We walk about a block south on Newport Street and are introduced to another vendor lady. She uncovers a blanket and we see what look like dirty sweet potatoes with thin brown papery skins in piles of 5. One pile of Cassava costs 100 Liberty. Again we say 50 Liberty. We are offered only 2 of the 5 Cassava in one pile for 50 Liberty and I accept.

I pay, the Cassava go into my backpack and I tip the first woman a 10 Liberty note for her help. I may have overpaid (or the price may very well have been 100 Liberty the entire time) for the Cassava but I don’t know what to do with 1 Cassava let alone 5.

-

That evening Amos showed us how to cook Cassava.

After removing the skin and chopping it into bite-sized pieces you boil Cassava for about 10 minutes, drain the water, and then serve it with salt and butter. It tastes and feels like a chalky potato and is quite filling. I like it.

Amos encouraged me to cook the second Cassava for breakfast because it’s more of a breakfast food.