OK, this is a random question: I am feeling retroactively cheap about the wedding gift I gave for the wedding I was in back in June. It's too late to worry about it, right?

Potatoes: Foliage poisonous

Yes.

Manioc is poisonous raw. Not that anyone here actually eats manoic regularly.

Of course, the way we know stuff is poisonous is that somebody died of it once.

It's too late to worry about it, right?

Yes.

Ackees -- poisonous until ripe.

I'm on the verge of home schooling my stomach. Everything, including desserts, just tastes too sweet. But I can't make everything from scratch just to avoid that. Someone out there must be catering to people who aren't interested in alternate sweeteners -- who just prefer less sweetness.

Not that anyone here actually eats manoic regularly.

Cassava? It's that rare? It's a staple in Jamaica.

I've seen it in the Brazilian-centric supermarket (i.e. regular supermarket with demographic-specific selections), but, at the way back amid ten other kinds of root things. Lychees are right up front (when they can be had at all), as are plaintains, but manioc is apparently too ugly for a starring role in a grocery store.

I don't eat it because the whole "poison" thing is kind of off-putting and alarming. Also, because I actually know how to cook yams and sweet potatoes.

Everything, including desserts, just tastes too sweet. But I can't make everything from scratch just to avoid that. Someone out there must be catering to people who aren't interested in alternate sweeteners -- who just prefer less sweetness.

Good luck. I've given up.

Huh. I knew it was called manioc, but I've never heard it called that. Bammies, which are breakfast ... (fried cakes? But not like dumplings, which we also fry) carbs are staples in a Jamaican hot breakfast.

And I know I've seen it for sale around here as yuca, but I don't really make Jamaican food myself, so I've never bought it.

Good luck. I've given up.

Now you're making me sad.

Ah -- the good thing about lobster salad would be that I could make pretend about a Shell-less Lobster Tree....

Now you're making me sad.

I'm sorry!

Bear in mind, I just reverted to doing most cooking for myself because it was easier than trying products and rejecting them. I pretty much skip dessert, and I don't miss it. Because my reaction to too much sugar is physical, it isn't so much the taste of too-sweet that turns me off stuff. It's more too sweet indicates I will experience discomfort, therefore it's a warning.

I even prefer my diet ginger ale at room temp because it tastes sweeter cold. But that sweetness won't make me cranky. Now, whoever thought tomato sauce should be sweet should be shot, though.