A primary Taíno staple was yuca (bitter manioc), a root crop brought to the Antilles from South America. Yuca is consumed as cassava, unleavened bread that involves a complicated preparation to extract toxins. The Taíno also grew corn, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, peppers, pea-nuts, pineapple, calabash, cotton, tobacco, and tubers. The people relied on seasonal fruits, nuts, and edible and medicinal plants from the forests.
The Taíno were successful agriculturists and relied on hunting and fishing. Their main source of protein came from birds, turtles, lizards, and snakes from the forests, as well as crab, sea turtle, shellfish, and fish from the island’s streams, rivers, mangroves, estuaries, seashores, and reefs.
(Bauer, Lugo, & Robinson, 2014)
The Taino 