In the mainstream U.S. diet, roots like turnips, beets and radishes are often seen as boring side dishes, odd things that people’s grandparents serve up at holidays, foods no longer loved.  But we Latinos love our roots!  All our roots!  Batata! Yuca! And today’s special, the ñame! 

In many parts of Latin America, root vegetables are a major part of a traditional diet.  The ñame, also known as white yam (not to be confused with the yellow sweet potato known in the U.S. South), African yam, cará in Central America, inhame in Brazil, ñampí in Colombia and Ecuador, is probably the least known of the tropical tubers in the U.S.,  perhaps due to its demanding cultivation and marketing requirements (they can grow to be a yard long, and weigh more than a hundred pounds).  Its homely appearance is referenced in a familiar expression, "So-and-so is a ñame con corbata," a yam with a tie, a useless person.

At your local bodega, it is usually medium brown, very oblong in shape, relatively thin-skinned and rather smooth, and very heavy for its size.  In the New York area, we see them from twelve to twenty inches long or more, and from three to twenty pounds or more, selling for somewhat over a dollar a pound.  Most abuelitas looking for ñame are looking for a small one.  Yes, there is frozen ñame for sale, some of us have tried it, and the ajiaco (a traditional vegetable stew)was deemed okay by the elders, but you should see for yourself what it’s like to choose one and peel one and taste its eat-me-with-anything creaminess.

There are many varieties of the botanical family Dioscorea, to which white yams belong.  It is related to magnolias and lilies.  As a food staple, ñame has been cultivated for over 8,000 years in Asia and Africa.  Many varieties are said to have medicinal uses, providing a precursor hormone to estrogen and progesterone.  It is also said to be anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic.  Many New York heath food stores carry yam creams, generally for its hormonal properties.  In many places, it is a common belief that eating yam will increase a woman’s fertility, to the extent that it is said to promote the conception of twins. 

Nigerian poet Flora Nwapa sees yam as having a male essence, as opposed to cassava [stay tuned for coming Mi Apogeo features]; yams are the prized crop, the one cultivated by men, the “better” food, compared to the humble cassava.  Yams are carbohydrate-rich, but more nutritious than many other starches:  they provide about 7% protein per serving, and are a good source of potassium and phosphorus.  Some varieties are high in vitamin C and B.  They can keep well without refrigeration for about six months. 

In Western Africa, the origin of many peoples and customs brought to the Americas, the ñame was considered a ceremonial food, offered to deities and royalty, sometimes softened with palm oil, also a sacred substance.  Orisha and candomble deities to whom white yam is offered include Orula, Obatala, Elegba, and Orisa Oko [stay tuned for coming Mi Apogeo features].  In Caribbean neighborhoods, there is often a shortage of ñames in the local bodegas just prior to October 4, a day sacred to Orula, the deity of divination. 

But besides all this, we love our ñame because it is good to eat!  The texture is somewhat more glutinous than that of a potato, but with a sweeter flavor.  We eat it in fritters, mashed, with or without olive oil and/ or garlic, we eat it in asopaos, cocidos, sopas and ajiacos.  We eat it breaded in slices, Naija style, we eat it in little seasoned balls, as hors d’oeuvres.  We eat it boiled, roasted and fried.  We love our ñame!