'Dasheen', or taro, is a root originating from Southeast Asia, found in most Caribbean dishes. The whole plant is used; tubers and leaf, in my favorite dish Callaloo.

In Hawaiian culture, 'kalo' represents ancestral connection between people and the land. 
The concept of 'aloha aina' is a responsibility to the land that provides for us as we care for and nurture the resources around us.

Being involved with the Polynesian Voyaging Society, canoe restoration and voyaging, I learned about 'canoe plants' and the explorations of Pacific Wayfinders stemming from Asia. Myself, Trinidadian Diaspora living in Hawai'i, I couldn't help but find inescapable connections between the Caribbean and Pacific seas. The idea of this collection was born from a longing for my own culture while enraptured by the indigenous education I was receiving. We are all related through ancestral knowledge, exploration and shared history. 

Dasheen's logo features breadfruit, 'ulu, on a sailboat, telling the story of European colonizer William Blythe who brought a variety of fruit from Tahiti to Jamaica, further distributed to the rest of the Caribbean. Captain Blythe, made famous through the story 'Mutiny on the Bounty' was tasked by the King of England to bring the hearty breadfruit species to the Caribbean - a solution to the many mouths to feed as enslaved and indentured laborer populations grew.

Many of these plants had been previously selected and taken to Polynseian islands as 'canoe plants' when early seafarers left the continent of Asia landing on islands all across the Pacific Ocean. 

These graphics tell a story of a layered ancestry, where our predecessors redefined 'local' ingredients, integrating them into dishes that are staple and stand out in multicultural Caribbean households today. The whole plant is shown with intention of bringing us back to our roots: garden to table. 

Product information:
All graphics designed by Shivani Goberdhan
Cotton and cotton-blends