Season alert: New yam

Roasted new yam with (red) palm oil

I must be late with this post, but here it is. Ah! You were wondering what other fruit I was going to highlight in season alert this weekend, but I decided to surprise you. I'm not going the fruit or vegetable way - I'm going staples (tuber crop) now. NEW YAM. It's everywhere. In fact, it's almost going out of season. Many people have since celebrated or ushered in the new yam and have already begun eating yam for the year.

Most people associate new yam with New Yam Festival. I find it interesting that in many parts of Igboland, natives do not eat the new yam until it is celebrated. It is called by many names such as Iri Ji, Ike Ji, Iri Ji Ohuu et cetera. I can't recall attending a New Yam Festival but I have been eating new yam. Hopefully, my glottis or whatever doesn't swell up since I didn't accord respect to the dead spirits (Lol). Nothing is being trivialized here - we've got to keep our culture alive! I'm just not keen on supporting those superstitions that restrict people from doing what they please and when they like.

Yam is a tuber crop which is planted from its seedling. It is eaten in many parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. In Nigeria, it is a favorite of many cultures. In Yorubaland and Idomaland, it is eaten as starch, pounded into a fine dough and eaten with a choice soup (often thickened with melon and other food ingredients).

How to Eat the New Yam
In Igboland, where the New Yam Festival is very popular, yam, often roasted or cooked, is eaten with palm (red) oil. It is very delicious when it's cooked with vegetables especially the twin pumpkins, fluted and the native pumpkins (ugu and ugboghoro respectively). Water yam is a delicacy among the Ohafia (or old Bende of Abia State) and the Ibibios of Akwa Ibom State, where it's often eaten as ikpankuku. Ikpankuku is a native dish among these people mentioned here. It is grated water yam wrapped with soft coco-yam leaves and cooked with native spices. Many people prefer to eat theirs with little spices in order to enjoy the natural taste of the water yam (called so because it contains a lot of water). Frying is another way to eat new yam. I'm not talking about the MacDonald's fries but try those too if you have the technical expertise to compete with the big name. I love eating yam with egg sauce. Yes, (don't call me long throat) I do so for good health and vitality. Both egg and yam are good for your health.

New Yam - Source: vanguard.ng

There are many species of new yam - some are white and others are yellow. I like the white yam even though I eat both :). I won't go into the agricultural or botanical names of the different species. Try google. It's a useful guide. A good source for us here in Abia State is Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike with National Root Crops Research Institute for information on agricultural endeavours. I went on an excursion of the facility when I was in junior high school and it was still a college of agriculture before the upgrade, many years ago. That should be in the mid '90s. It was a very useful way of learning outside of the classroom. Field trips continue to be useful in pedagogy to this day.

Why I Don't Like New Yam?
It's so full of sand. It messes everywhere up! Oh! That's no good reason? Let me try again. Well, I also don't like the taste of the new yam. I'm not alone here. Many people wait for the new yam to dry before they begin to eat it. But I'm all season, I eat it all even though I prefer the dry yam, that is coming in from Northern Nigeria.

Have you done your own New Yam Festival yet? How did it go? I hope it was hitch free. May the souls of the "masquerades" that died after a recent ceremony somewhere in Anambra State last week rest in peace. Amen. Che! This accident that killed 'spirits' is wicked. Ozoemena.