Move over kale, there's a new superfood in town and it's here to end world hunger.
The
could-be hero is called breadfruit although it doesn't really seem like
a fruit at all. It's large with prickly skin and tastes like a baked
potato or -- you guessed it -- bread when prepared.
Breadfruit
grows on tall trees in tropical areas like Hawaii, Samoa, and the
Caribbean. It's high in energy from carbohydrates, low in fat, and has more potassium than 10 bananas.
But how will this tropical fruit feed the world?
According to the National Tropical Botanical Garden
(NTBG), more than 80% of the world's hungry live in tropical or
subtropical regions -- the type of environment that is perfect for
growing breadfruit trees. These trees are very easy to maintain and can
bear an abundance of fruit for decades.
Organizations like Global Breadfruit and NTBG's Breadfruit Institute
are dedicated to promoting the superfood and spreading it to areas of
the world that need it most. “Every time we plant one of these trees,
we’re reducing the susceptibility to famine and starvation in the
country where the tree is going," said Josh Schneider a horticulturist
and partner to Global Breadfruit.
Schneider has been working with the botanical scientists and the
Breadfruit Institute in Hawaii to reproduce breadfruit trees and send
them off to some of the world's poorest areas. The Trees That Feed Foundation, for example, is planting more breadfruit trees in Haiti, where they hope to feed at least 1,000 orphans every day.
Breadfruit, also known as ulu, has been feeding the Hawaiian and Polynesian islands for centuries. An ancient Hawaiian legend tells the story of a god named Ku, who saved his family from starvation by burying himself in the ground and emerging as a healthy breadfruit tree.
Maybe breadfruit can solve the world's hunger problem, too.
Clarification:
Language has been modified to indicate that The Trees That Feed
Foundation has simply been planting additional breadfruit trees, and did
not bring the species to Haiti for the first time.
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