The humble colocasi, a type of taro &known officially as colocasia esculenta, may not be so humble after all. It’s one of oldest cultivated crops perhaps being grown whilst rice &wheat were just weeds. It happens to be one of #Cyprus’ most popular dishes often stewed with pork 1/

Thought to have originated around Bay of Bengal or SE Asia. It’s uncertain as to when it arrived in Med as earliest references to word colocasia by ancient Greeks may have referred to sacred lotus instead.There was even a temple dedicated to goddess Athena Kolokasia in Sikyon
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I’m a convert to colocasi myself, having hated it is as a child.

Hail the goddess Athena Kolokasia for bestowing colocasi to Cypriot & Ikarian cuisines! I shall be offering a clay colocasi votive to the goddess so she delivers a healthy & plentiful next crop
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The Semantic shift to today’s colocasi certainly took place by 2nd c CE & Roman recipe collection of Apicios includes it as a dish. Today it’s largely been forgotten in Greece & Italy (except as an ornamental plant) though still known in Spanish Canaries & Portuguese Azores
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Colocasi remains very popular in Egypt (qolqas) & Lebanon too. In Greece, it is only well known on the island of Ikaria where it is often used in a salad. Locals suggest that it saved the islanders from famine in WWII. Could it be one of the reasons for Ikarian longevity?
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