Cascading is a Java framework for building data-oriented applications like ETL jobs on Hadoop. It provides a high-level API for defining data flows and pipelines. Key features include testability, reusability, and built-in functions for filtering, joining, and aggregating data. The document provides examples of using Cascading to define simple flows that connect to data sources and sinks, perform transformations like unique filtering, and execute jobs on Hadoop using MapReduce. It also discusses optimizations, connecting flows to different runtimes like Tez, and tools for monitoring and querying data flows.