Food and living heritage
Casabe and Dominican Culture
Casabe turns cassava into a durable round bread through knowledge passed across generations—and shared across several Caribbean countries.
2 min read
Published May 15, 2026
Updated October 15, 2026
Quick answer
What is casabe?
Casabe is a round bread made from cassava. UNESCO recognizes the traditional knowledge and practices for making and consuming cassava bread in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, and Venezuela.
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Casabe is not simply a finished food. Its cultural value includes the knowledge used to grow or obtain cassava, process it safely, prepare the bread, and share it within communities.
01.
A bread made from cassava
UNESCO describes cassava bread as round and generally made from bitter cassava, which helps it keep longer, although sweet cassava may also be used. Recipes and results vary: the bread may be savory or sweet, soft or hard, and made in different sizes and thicknesses.
Those variations matter because this is a shared heritage rather than one standardized commercial recipe.
02.
The knowledge behind the food
Traditional preparation involves a chain of skills, including processing the tuber and preparing it for cooking. These skills are essential because cassava varieties and methods require knowledgeable handling.
The UNESCO inscription centers the people who preserve that knowledge through practice and transmission. It recognizes a foodway: ingredients, tools, labor, memory, and community use together.
Bring this to the table
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UNESCO inscribed the shared cassava-bread tradition in 2024.
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Casabe can differ in flavor, texture, size, and thickness between communities.
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The heritage includes practical knowledge and social transmission, not only the bread itself.
Questions from the table
Is casabe only Dominican?
No. It is important in the Dominican Republic and is also part of a shared tradition recognized across Cuba, Haiti, Honduras, and Venezuela.
When did UNESCO recognize the cassava-bread tradition?
The multinational element was inscribed in 2024.
Where this comes from
Want to check the details? These are the references we used.
- Traditional knowledge and practices for the making and consumption of cassava bread
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage · Accessed July 19, 2026
Supports the definition, 2024 inscription, participating countries, use of cassava varieties, and documented variations in flavor, texture, size, and thickness.
