My mother has never been short of ideas when it came to preparing cassava as a snack. She could caramelize one into a sticky sweet indulgent confection, or grate it, mix it with chillies and spices and make it into savory cutlets. My best memory is of attending Hari Organik, a community event, with my buddy Eugene. We had cycled there and met some of our friends selling locally grown organic products. Our friend Edo, who has a small organic farm, gave us cassava and vermicompost to bring home. And so we cycled home, with the unwieldy cassava in our backpacks, poking into our backs as we rode in the scorching heat. We made caramelized cassava that same weekend. Until today, the taste of caramelized cassava brings back memories of that hot, humid day, cycling companionably with my friend, with the sun raining down on our helmets and backs, cassavas poking into our backs.