the result of this combination was cheese bread, which became a tradition in minas gerais - the bread's starch, sweet or sour, is made from the cassava plant, or mandioca in portuguese. 

cassava is addressed by different names including but not limited to tapioca, mandioca, and  aipim, used in different culinary ways - as for the pão de queijo, the typical ingredients are cassava flour (fécula de mandioca or polvinho), either sour or sweet, eggs, salt, vegetable oil, milk and cheese, mostly queijo minas - the bread does not need any leavening agent.