Taro

Taro, a root vegetable and possibly the first domesticated vegetable, grows throughout the Fifth World. A historically important staple crop throughout tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific islands, climate refugees brought taro to newly-warmed areas of the world after the collapse.

##Human usage

People eat taro's starchy corms, most often boiled, as well as young leaves and stems (boiled twice). While it is toxic in its raw form, cooking diminishes the toxins.

Taro is particularly important to native Hawaiian culture.

#Specialization

A community that specializes in relationship with taro will invariably tend towards horticulture, and therefore live in settled villages. Often these communities practice slash-and-burn agriculture, growing different guilds of plants at different stages and moving around the jungle in a regular cycle. They will often plant taro in traditional "banana circles" with banana, cassava, lemongrass, and sweet potato.

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