I Yam what I Yam

Our moral and intellectual superiors are at it again.

Food and Wine

The Difference Between Yams and Sweet Potatoes Is Structural Racism
The confusion goes all the way back to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The mix-up between yams and sweet potatoes originated from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Yams are an important part of West African food traditions. European slave traders steered their ships across the Middle Passage, they packed yams, along with black-eyed peas, to feed their captives.

In other news the British call French Fries “Chips”.

38 Replies to “I Yam what I Yam”

    1. Yam it up?
      Spud me up buttercup?

      I sort of thought Mr. Potato Head looked like a nutbar.

      1. Yam, of course, has been a verb for many years. After all, didn’t Neil Diamond sing, “I Yam, I Said”?

        Or was he describing himself and that line should be “I, Yam, I said”?

      1. Potato, poTAToh
        Tomato, toMatoh
        Let’s call the whole thing off….
        A ditty by Rene day Cart
        Winning

      1. Pink & Beige 🙂

        It’s funny because white is a refraction of all colours, I think that makes “white people” diverse and technically multi-colour, especially albino’s. I think they kill albinos in parts of Africa and the UK now, which is a little like racism in the guise of witchcraft but no one seems to care about that either.

  1. And the Brits call snack foods (potato chips) … crisps. You know … like dem black folk gettin’ all crispy and whatnot, working outside on da Plantation! Eh, Mastah?

    1. @Kenji
      The Brits also call a car’s trunk a boot’. I would think that’s how the term ‘booty’ came to mean the hind end of a woman.

  2. So, if I am expecting turnip and someone cooks me rutabaga, that can be considered an act of structural racism.

    Got it.

    Yet another fine example of why I often refer to these people as leftards.

  3. In an old Nigerian folk tale. It ends thus: The king dismissed every one home as imbeciles. He sat on his throne, which laughed and stated, “What idiots, imagine, a talking yam!”

      1. “Imagine, a talking yam.

        You mean, Prinz Dummkopf’s that famous in that part of Africa?

    1. “Is tanning considered cultural appropriation yet . . .”
      Yes. It’s also colorism.

    2. Yes … and so is silicone buttock augmentation. No skinny ass white girl should be makin’ and shakin’ her FAKE booty … mmmm mmm uh huh!! Tryin’ to act like a sistah and whatnot. Pfffft.

      1. No skinny ass white girl should be makin’ and shakin’ her FAKE booty

        That would mean a lot of “exotic dancers” would be out of work, won’t they?

  4. The US slave trade was ended in 1865 by a civil war that cost the lives of over 300,000 Union soldiers, most of whom were white, not to mention the over 200,000 Confederate soldiers who died.
    Yet the slave trade is still front and center in an article about yams.
    Question for someone bringing up slavery.
    Q. Were you a slave?
    A. Of course not. I was born in 1990.
    Q. Were your parents slaves?
    A. No. That’s silly. They were born in 1960.
    Q Grandparents?
    A. No. Born in 1930.
    Q. Great-grandparents?
    A. No. Born in 1900.
    Q. Great-great-grandparents?
    A. No. Born in 1870.
    But my great-great-great-grandfather was a slave. I want reparations.

    My father came to this continent from Russia with my grandparents when he was 6. I don’t think I’m responsible for the practice of slavery 150 years ago.

      1. @Canuckguy NB
        My dad wasn’t enthusiastic about communism, but I have to admit I was — for a couple of years when I was much younger and stupider. This was during the late 60s and early 70s when the New Left was in its heyday. Fortunately I came to my senses fairly soon, and I now agree communism really is evil. Does this let me off the hook?

        1. @GregW: You definitely are off the hook for coming to your senses. Congratulations. I once voted NDP in my university years(in my defense, the candidate was hot looking) and later liberal but I came come to my senses though only about 30 years ago when I was in my early 40’s though some here would not agree.

          1. @Canuckguy NB
            So you’re in your early 70s and have a New Brunswick connection? (I should have been a detective.) I’m 73, born and raised in Saskatchewan, but living in BC the last 48 years so I feel like a BC guy now. Also lived in Alberta for a year and Toronto for 3 months.

            What brought you to your senses? I became an atheist when I was 16. Ten years later I discovered there’s a God, and eventually I became a Christian. After that, I had to rethink a lot of things about life including politics. I had already given up on leftism and become a liberal but a lot of the ideas and attitudes were still similar.

    1. My great-grandmother was a serf. Where do I go to collect my cheque?

      What’s that, splotchy-pink people need not apply? RACISTS!

    2. Much of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa are owed reparations by Italy for the Roman conquests. Waydaminnit, many of the later Roman legionnaires came from those conquered countries, didn’t they? Would that mean they owe themselves reparations, right?

      Let the lawyers sort that one out. It’ll take them years, and imagine how much money they’d make off that, eh?

  5. You must know that New World sweet potatoes aren’t African yams, or you’re a racist, but whatever you do, don’t mention African watermelon, because . . . well, reasons I guess.

  6. So basically the author is ignorant of the difference of yams and sweet potatoes. They not even related other than they are both root vegetables. Wanna talk about racism and the slave trade? Use better metaphors, it was obvious why thy slavers loaded ship with yams, high density nutrition. IE – better energy returns on the same tonnage of food.

  7. Chicken of the sea? Can a chicken really live in the sea. Yam/sweat potato mix-up. Simply because nobody gives a rat’s ass and language is flexible. My dogs won’t eat them and I see my dogs take second helpings of dog shit.

Navigation