Manihot esculenta, commonly known as cassava, manioc, or yuca, is a perennial woody shrub in the family Euphorbiaceae. The genus Manihot derives from the Tupi name mandioca, meaning "manioc," while the Latin-derived specific epithet esculenta means "edible" or "good to eat". The name “cassava” comes from the Taino word kasabi. It is native to South America, with centers of domestication in present-day Brazil and Paraguay. From its Amazonian origins, cassava spread throughout tropical South America, then across Africa and Asia via Portuguese and Spanish colonial trade in the 16th century, becoming a global staple crop. Today, it is the third-largest source of carbohydrates for human diets worldwide, after rice and maize.

The edible part is the starchy tuberous root, which is consumed in both sweet (low-cyanide) and bitter (high-cyanide) varieties. Cassava is extraordinarily drought-tolerant, making it a crucial crop for food security in marginal agricultural regions. Historically, Indigenous peoples of South America developed complex processing methods—including grating, soaking, fermenting, pressing, and roasting—to remove toxic cyanogenic glycosides before consumption. These traditions carried into Africa and Asia, where cassava became central to cuisines. In modern times, cassava is used to produce flour, starch (tapioca), chips, porridge, fermented foods (gari, fufu), and beverages. Cassava starch (tapioca) is widely used in the global food industry as a thickener, binder, and in gluten-free products. However, cassava’s safety depends on proper detoxification, since raw roots and leaves contain significant levels of linamarin and lotaustralin, which can release cyanide if improperly processed.