Talk:Yam (vegetable)

French name
I think the corresponding fr: article should be fr:Igname for the genus rather than the current fr:Dioscoréacée, which is the family. A-giau 06:41, 14 October 2004 (UTC)

Wild Yam
It would be nice to add some info about the pharmaceutical uses of Wild Yam.FreplySpang 22:45, 9 March 2005 (UTC)

moved recipe to WikiCookbook
I've moved "Lovie's yam recipe" out of this article into the WikiCookbook:. FreplySpang (talk) 20:43, 13 July 2005 (UTC) Thank you! I am new at this. I am sure glad it did not get deleted. P.S. did you try 'em? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.228.83.58 (talk) 01:38, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

DISAMBIGUATION
Instead of having a note at the top of the Yam vegetable page about Yam / Yaw (the Levantine god unrelated to vegetables), shouldn't we have a disambiguation page instead? - krnntp 165.139.196.188 17:36, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

to eat yam
The article says: 'The word yam comes from Portuguese inhame or Spanish ñame, which both ultimately derive from the Wolof word nyami, meaning "to eat".'

I suspect that it is the other way around. The Wolof's word for "to eat" coming from the word for "yam". For instance the Japanese word for food comes from their word for rice.Steve Dufour 17:53, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
 * The obvious point is yams are African not Iberian. So why would a word for eat in Wolof come from European languages? What did the Wolof say for "eat" before Europeans arrived?92.233.169.89 (talk) 00:13, 1 August 2021 (UTC)

Total rewrite of article
I know this is not supposed to be what happens here....However I would like to totally rewrite the article. I will not do it unless I get some support here telling me that it is ok to at least try and see how people like it. Thanks. Steve Dufour 05:34, 1 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I changed my mind. What I will do is add some more info here and there as is normal here on Wikipedia.  Steve Dufour 13:49, 2 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I'd agree, it needs a heavy re-write, in conjunction with splitting the page (as per below) - MPF 16:19, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I do think it needs a lot of work. I would like to know more about the soils and climates it grows well in.Saritamackita 21:51, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Page split
The genus scientific name Dioscorea currently redirects here; however, not all of the c.600 Dioscorea species are yams, only some. I propose splitting out the botanical information on the genus as a whole to a separate Dioscorea page, while retaining the food crop aspects of the handful of edible species on the Yam (vegetable) page - MPF 16:19, 5 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Please go ahead and do that. Steve Dufour 16:50, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Done - MPF 19:27, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Purple cake
Why is the cake in Image:Ube_Cake.jpg purple? Njál 17:16, 18 July 2007 (UTC)


 * See Ube Nil Einne 19:29, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

See the caption under the picture of the purple yam cake which reads "A piece of cake made with Ube (purple yam)". That would seem to indicate that the yams themselves with which the cake is made are a purple variety, wouldn't it?Toddabearsf (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 02:09, 6 December 2014 (UTC)

Yam or Cassava?
The artilce mentions that "...various natural substances in raw yams can cause illness if consumed; the most common cooking method in Western and Central Africa is fufu. Preparing some species of yam is a time-consuming process, involving days of pounding, leaching, and boiling to remove the toxins." This information is incorrect. Yam does nto require this sort of detailied processing to be safe to eat. This activity is more applicable to Cassava which is deadly inless so processed. This section should be removed or rewritten. Ajisekanla (talk) 16:07, 14 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Also, what if there was a section added on the United States terms of "sweet potato" and "yams" and how they are used interchangeably, even though they are different vegetables? Nappingjewel12 (talk) 19:53, 11 February 2022 (UTC)
 * This is taken care of by the hatnote at the top of the article: "This article is about ..." and touches on "also known as a yam' in North America". Having dealt with that, this article is about the one specific vegetable. The other vegetables are covered in other articles. There isn't any more than that to be said the word itself. Largoplazo (talk) 22:24, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

Yam in Nigeria
There is minimal reference to the significance of Yam in Nigerian culture and society. Besides being the largest producer and consumer of this tuber, it is instrumental to certain cultures here - Igbos for instance celebrate the New Yam festival every year. Ajisekanla (talk) 16:12, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Color of Yam Flesh
The article says that the flesh "ranges in color from white to bright orange in ripe yams". I added a citation needed tag because to my knowledge yam flesh can be white, yellow, purple, or pink, but not bright orange. Maybe someone can check this out with some good sources. 74.236.139.62 (talk) 16:11, 23 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't think so, "orange flesh" sounds more like some sweet potatoe species, but some botanists could probably answer to that question better than me. Nevers (talk) 17:46, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Taste
Could somebody please add a bit about what yams taste like? Maybe a comparison to potatoes or sunchokes... 210.215.140.180 (talk) 12:02, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes please. Also can someone include yam varieties found in India. It is very important to differentiate between yam and sweet potato w.r.t taste, shape, colour and nutritional substances (preferably with photos) as people turn to Wikipedia to get clarification. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.182.145.155 (talk) 08:12, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

copy vio
An anonymous user added a line stating that the Igbo section could be a copyright violation. I was unable to confirm this, but thought it would be best to bring it up here. --Leivick (talk) 21:36, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

The entire section on Igbo new year celebrations appears to be lifted directly from Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart". --Sir Ophiuchus (talk) 14:57, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Not entire, I think, but a lot of it. Yakushima (talk) 16:29, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

I just read that chapter in Chinua Achebe's book and can indeed confirm that although a few parts have been dropped and some words changed the section about the Igbo's New yam feast is obvious plagiarism. At the least it should be quoted and credited for. Haddi77 (talk) 00:50, 11 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Yep.. Deleted. Yakushima (talk) 16:28, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

However Achebe's Things Fall Apart could be used as citation here: 'Due to their abundance and consequently, their importance to survival, the yam was highly regarded in Nigerian ceremonial culture and used as a vegetable offered during blessings.[citation needed]' —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.194.182.37 (talk) 23:20, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Need to cross ref or merge Ube
The section on D alata needs to be rationalised with the Ube entry. Earthlyreason (talk) 14:14, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

hormones in yam
On the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizygotic#Statistics, it states that some types of yam include phytoestrogen, shouldnt this be inluded in this article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.138.23.155 (talk) 00:46, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Oca
I think the section on new zeland yam (oca) should be moved from the bottom to the top under the section which says sweet potatoes are known as yams in the US. Could the statement that yam = Dioscorea sp. be referenced? It seems quite odd that many Potato-like tuber are known as a yams, even though they are in different genera. Lastly, albeit a recent adoption, the section on preparation lacks roasting in olive oil & rosemary, which is how English-speaking people cook Dioscorea rotundata. --Squidonius (talk) 02:33, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Japanese Section
There is mention of a "purple yam" here in Japan. Is this a reference to Dioscorea alata (大薯【だいじょ】), any yam/potato that happens to be purple (ベニイモ;紅芋【べにいも】), or the Japanese sweet potato 薩摩芋【さつまいも】? I suspect that the line, "In Japan, the purple yam is popular as lightly deep fried tempura as well as being grilled or boiled," is a reference to the sweet potato, which is very purple in colour on the outside, but not a yam. While I think the sentence, "Additionally, the purple yam is a common ingredient of yam ice cream with the signature purple color," is about 紅芋, purple yams and potatoes. Try a Google Japan search with those words and let me know how you think this section should be changed.--122.1.97.94 (talk) 09:45, 14 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I think this is talking about Japanese purple sweet potatoes, mistakenly known as "purple yams".8.21.178.113 (talk) 00:16, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

This is definitely a reference to "Daijo", the Purple Okinawan Sweet Potato aka Beniimo aka Dioscorea alata. See the Japanese Wikipedia entry: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%80%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.106.249.73 (talk) 01:18, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Etymology Overload
I have a feeilng that the wall of text on the etymology of the word "yam" needs to be rewritten for clarity and placed in its own section rather than cluttering the intro. Anyone with knowledge relevant to the section up for the task? 182.239.134.159 (talk) 14:22, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Move of Nigerian language discussion
Lots of interesting stuff, but certainly doesn't belong in the intro. Snori (talk) 22:00, 14 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Interesting, yes, but it's obvious that much of it is more about touting the Serer people than about yams: "The Serer people also being ancestors of the Wolof people as they are the ancestors of the Toucouleur people and Lebou people, their language has also been borrowed and diluted by these groups" is the most obvious example. I don't know enough to judge the sources cited, but I know an NPOV violation when I see it.Chuck Entz (talk) 23:02, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

tamil name for yam vegetable are al-vallikilangu,maraceenikilangu. sweet potato in tamil sakkaravellikilangu. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.216.9.209 (talk) 12:44, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

The entire section devoted to how true yams differ from sweet potatoes
It seems to me that it suffices to say that "In the United States, the word 'yam' is often used to refer to the sweet potato, a plant from a different family." Why do we go further, then, and show all the different ways in which two plants, which we already said are from different families, happen not to be like each other? That's like the Dolphin article having a section going on about all the ways that a dolphin is different from a mahi-mahi. That would make no sense at all to anyone who didn't know that, as it happens, mahi-mahi is sometimes referred to as "dolphin". Or, it's like having a table of all the ways in which Ed Bradley the journalist differs—ethnicity, height, eye color, birthplace, schools attended—from Ed Bradley (American football). Largoplazo (talk) 18:50, 7 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Indeed. Now gone. Snori (talk) 00:35, 15 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Addressing User:Jonathan12456's note at User talk:Snori, "When I read that article a few weeks back that was actually the most informative part of the whole thing. Due to the common use of the word 'Yam' in reference to a sweet potato, I believe that to be highly relevant to anyone who is not familiar with Yams (hence why they are looking up this article).": I feel it's unlikely that when a person is looking for information on a vegetable, the most useful information to give him is a list of differences between that vegetable and another arbitrary vegetable—in this case, one that happens sometimes to be called by the other one's name. If someone is looking for information on a particular plant and expects to find information about it under "Yam", but the plant the person had in mind was actually a sweet potato, then this article only needs to let the person know that the information they're looking for is at Sweet potato. We don't need to provide it here as well. If that person was, in fact, looking for information on yams, then Yam (vegetable) is going to be the source of that information—about yams, not sweet potatoes. Largoplazo (talk) 19:42, 19 May 2017 (UTC)

June 3 possible vandalism
I've revised a set of three changes that were made on 3/June/2017, which completely replaced the opening with the statement "Yam is NOT A VEGETABLE!". I specifically have added the original opening back in front of the non-vegetable claim, and fixed the casing & punctuation. Unfortunately, a brief review indicates that the usage of the word "vegetable" is inconsistent, and thus I have marked that statement as needing a reference. As the statement runs contrary to the article name, it is my hope that someone knowledgeable on the subject will be able to finish the editing sooner rather than later. 2602:301:7764:AC00:E034:912F:E6A6:BC7B (talk) 06:42, 3 June 2017 (UTC)

True?
Actually in PNG the name kau-kau is used for sweet potato, not yams, whilst in USA sweet potato are sometimes called yams. However sweet potato and yams are not closely related.Bod (talk) 04:50, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

"Erroneously"
Why did you restore your use of the word "erroneously" to describe the use of the word "yam" to refer to "sweet potatoes" after I pointed out that Wikipedia reports usage, it doesn't judge it? Also, can you explain your edit summary, which reads "Undid revision 876387153 by Largoplazo (talk) of an incorrect, misleading statement"? What do you believe was incorrect or misleading? Largoplazo (talk) 03:24, 2 January 2019 (UTC)

Staple crop comparison table
Please see Template_talk:Comparison_of_major_staple_foods regarding a proposed change to the template transcluded in this article. SmartSE (talk) 12:13, 13 June 2021 (UTC)