Just what is tapioca, and what purpose does it have other than tapioca pudding? “Honey? Did you make tapioca for dinner because I haven’t had my daily allowance of it today…” 
- Jinx
It’s a thickening agent. It is used in South America quite a bit, but is usually referred to as cassava on programs about South America. Other names also exist for the plant and product.
I’m pretty sure tapioca pudding is actually just fish eyes in yogurt.
Any of you ever been to a trendy “tea bar” that has big black balls of “tapioca” in it? Then they give you this straw with like a 5" diameter so you can freely suck up the balls with the straw…and they’re just gummy…why that goes with tea is beyond me.
Years ago, my wife told me that tapioca was made from fish eyes. I believed her for half a second before I saw her laughing at me.
It’s originally an Asian dish, adapted for the trendy bars. I don’t know why they go together either, but it’s…ok tasting I gues.
Bubble tea. It’s fun to drink!
The book “Family Words” says that common slang for Tapioca pudding is Fish Eyes in Glue.
I never heard that before I read the book, but Tapioca looked so unappetized I never tried it anyway.
Sez you. Calling blobs of chewy junk “bubbles” is deceptive advertising at best. A guy I worked with wild for this stuff - I never understood it.
I have no idea.
It make a nice thickener for pie fillings.
I’ve learned to like it, but I like it in fruit smoothies, which are usually served at those same tea bars. Sue me; my mom’s Asian.
Oh, and to the OP: it’s starch from the root of the cassava plant.
I remember I was the kid in the third grade cafeteria who everyone else gave their tapioca pudding to. I loved it then, and I love it now, so long as it is very cold, very sweet with lots of vanilla flavor. Mrs. Fear makes it for me often.
IIRC, Elmer Fudd’s brain is made of tapioca pudding.
I’ve used it as a thickener in beef stew.
As to the pudding I prefer the large tapioca rather than the small because you can tell you’re actually eating something with tapioca in it.
I actually agree - small pearl tapioca pudding has a texture more like rice pudding, which is nice too, but not the same.
Mine too.
From dictionary: tap·i·o·ca n. A beady starch obtained from the root of the cassava, used for puddings and as a thickening agent in cooking.
Here in Colombia, we call the root “Yuca.” We cook the root and eat it like that.
Yep, I ate a ton of that stuff when I lived in Ecuador. For the first year, I closed my eyes and pretended it was potatoes. The second year, I preferred it over potatoes. 
Bubble tea. Yup. It hit the Anglo malls here about five years ago and hasn’t gone away since. I can only imagine what it would have been like if we’d had it when I was a kid… those straws seem ideal for pea-shooters.