For those of us with Caribbean roots, the plantain or plátano, as Abuela used to call it, is a very familiar food. Frequently fried or sautéed, it is the side dish of comfort food.
However, we may not know that this medicinal plant that is familiar to us today was brought to the Americas during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. To keep enslaved Africans in a state of relative health, slave ships needed to have stores of nutritious food. The plantain, a type of savory banana was a staple food item in Africa after having been introduced to Madagascar by Asian traders.
Today the plantain is now the 10th most important staple food in the world. Health experts recognize that the plantain is rich in vitamins A, B, and C and in the minerals magnesium and potassium. One serving of plantain contains over 35% of the Vitamin C that is recommended per day. They are high in fiber yet still easily digestible.
This humble food that is a staple has been keeping us healthy since 8000 BC.
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