Undated: (Yams, the West African Root Vegetable Central to Haitian Diet and Culture, Celebrated Annually in November at the Manger-Yam Festival, Often Confus…

Undated: (Yams, the West African Root Vegetable Central to Haitian Diet and Culture, Celebrated Annually in November at the Manger-Yam Festival, Often Confused With Sweet Potatoes in North America Though the Two Are Entirely Different Plants): Yams are a root vegetable of West African origin that have been a staple of the Haitian diet for centuries. They are rich in vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, and manganese, and they have a practical advantage that matters enormously in a country with limited refrigeration: they can be stored for up to six months without spoiling. Every November, Haitians celebrate Manger-Yam, literally “eat yam” day, a festival that honors the crop and its place in the culture. The yam’s journey from West Africa to Haiti traces the same forced migration route as the people who cultivated it, and its persistence in Haitian agriculture is another thread of African continuity in the diaspora. North Americans, particularly in the southern United States, routinely confuse yams with sweet potatoes, but the two are entirely different plants. Sweet potatoes are indigenous to the Andes and do not grow well in the Caribbean. The yam is African, and in Haiti, it is home.