Long and winding road

So today for no reason at all I googled pearl tea bacause I wanted to know what those chewy pearls are at the bottom. I have a craving for those, and while I'm not really hung up on texture of foods, (unlike my brother who likes pea soup but not peas) the texture is what is totally appealing about them. I used to like chewing on Colorforms, the original static sticker version of paper dolls, for the same reason.
But I digress. They're tapioca, which I still don't understand, so I googled tapioca. And while I still can't visualize what tapioca really is (this clearly needs more research) I did find this gem: Tapioca Sinks Freighter Enjoy.