Perils of a Raccoon Foodie

Last night, I had a close brush with… a yucca root! Over the years, I enjoyed ordering and eating one of the world’s staple root starches, a.k.a. cassava, manioc, tapioca, in different forms. I had sampled them fried with a tasty carrot/onion dipping sauce in a Brazilian restaurant, steamed and served with garlic and oil in a Salvadorian café, as chewy tapioca pearls in Taiwanese green "bubble" milk tea and like mashed potatoes in a harvest potluck. But I had yet to make some at home so I picked up a couple tubers from the local farmer’s market.

I had heard that the skin was poisonous so as a precaution, consulted my new “Best Loved and Brand New” 75th edition of Joy of Cooking, a recent gift. There was a special section on yucca, but surprisingly, no mention of its “dark side.” The cooking process read similar to potatoes so that’s how I processed it. The yucca tasted kind of bitter so I decided to check the internet for clues. (Of course, searching anything online, especially a health matter is a guaranteed way of freaking yourself out, given the range of opinions and sources!)

With alarm, I read, “Yucca root should always be washed, peeled and cooked to remove a poisonous and toxic milky latex-like substance this lies just beneath the bark. If eaten, this acidic juice contained in the root and beneath the bark can attack enzymes within human digestive systems, causing discomfort, illness, and possibly death.” Egads!

I have always been proud of the fact that I have an “iron stomach,” eating everything under the sun and friends who know my diverse gastronomical repertoire and principle of “no waste” call me a raccoon. I also had the reputation of being an uber-researcher before making a decision (especially shopping decisions!) After 20 minutes of internet “speed-learning,” it all boiled down to this: There were two types of yucca: sweet and bitter. The latter could kill a cow within minutes. The sweet kind was described as being “less bitter and not really sweet.”

My yucca had tasted quite bitter. Oh dear. Obituary headlines flashed before me: “Cause of Death: Poisonous Tuber” and “Harvard Grad Killed by Improper Handling of Root Vegetable Eaten by Millions Around the World.” Rationality went out the window. My mother would never forgive me.

Well, this Raccoon Foodie had a decision to make very quickly: Stick a finger down my throat or take my chances? Hmmm, time was running out. After twenty minutes, still no nausea or blurred vision. Was there time for one more Google search?

Reluctantly, I self-induced and puked the yucca. (As I sat on the floor of my bathroom hugging the toilet, I thought, “how do bulimics do this??”) Moral of the story: Beware of the “joy of cooking” and cross-check your sources so you don’t get stuck chucking your yucca!

Happy Chinese New Year (Year of the Ox)!