Cassava in Haiti, Cuba and three other nations placed on UNESCO cultural heritage list

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Finally, some good news for Haiti courtesy of the United Nations cultural organization and its annual list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

The group, which previously recognized Haiti’s famous unifying freedom soup, soup joumou or pumpkin soup, as a contribution to humanity, on Wednesday paid homage to another traditional Haitian delicacy, kasav or cassava bread. The recognition is being shared along with Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Venezuela. The five nations last year submitted a joint application to UNESCO asking for recognition of the popular staple as a shared cultural heritage and common lineage.

The entry highlighted the traditional knowledge and practice that the countries share in the making and consumption of the cassava bread, whose traditional preparation from manioc flour dates back to a thousand years to the region’s first indigenous people, the Amerindians before being spread throughout Central America and the Caribbean.