Friday, 11 February 2022

The Yam and The Sweet Potato

What we love about our people is the evidence of our resilience and resistance in almost everything!

The Yam is native to Africa and Asia and is believed to have been brought to the Caribbean by enslaved Africans.

FUN FACT: The "Yam Belt" Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon accounts for 97% of all of Africa's Yam production. In Fulani, the word nyami means “to eat"- it's thought by many this is where we get the word YAM.

Enslaved Africans in the US didn't have the beloved Yam and instead renamed the Sweet Potato (orange and soft) commonly grown in the American South as Yam. They are not the same botanically, but through language and memory, the Africans brought forcibly to the US retained a piece of who they were... who we are!

Now that's black history!

By Travel Deeper Inc

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