The Akee or Vegetable Brain

Abstract

Back in a day when African slaves were being imported into the western hemisphere, there arose a rather serious food shortage due to this importation into the West Indies. It was this need for food which sent the now famous Captain Bligh and H.M.S. Bounty into the south Pacific to bring back the breadfruit tree. History tells us that after two tries he finally succeeded in his efforts, but to no avail. The Negroes in the Indies did not take to this new food. Later another fruit was brought in for them, one more to their taste, a fruit from their native Africa, called the akee. It was chistened with the botanical name Blighia sapida, as a tribute to that tough old captain of the Bounty.