[CC] I Bought Her With My Money And My Yams

Why focus on the commentary on the human condition or the raw dynamics of each character in Chinua Achebe's book Things Fall Apart when you can be shocked by the amount of effort spent talking about yams?

"He was not a failure like Unoka.  He had a large barn full of yams" (6)

"'I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku, the god of yams'" (17)

"It was for this man that Okonkwo worked to earn his first seed yams" (19)

"I have cleared a farm but have no yams to sow" (21)

"But for a young man whose father had no yams, there was no other way" (22)

"The earth burned like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown" (23)

These are just of a few of the references to yams that can be found in the first three chapters of Things Fall Apart.  So why are yams mentioned an ungodly amount of times?  According to my research, yams are economically important in that they are a major African export and almost a form of currency.  But along with this literal value, there is an incredible amount of abstract value in yams that earns it a festival at the beginning of the harvest season and many rituals by which the crop is surrounded.  It's understandable that such hype is built up around something that seems so trivial in the US when you consider how much of the Igbo people's lives depend on the abundance and quality of this crop.  Even if there's not enough for a cash crop (which would arguably not be entirely detrimental to the people), yams are a huge part of these people's diets.  When you have a limited source of meat, a lack of options for crops that grow in the dry climate, and a barn or two full of yams, you can bet your mama you'll be eating yams on the daily.


Have you ever eaten one of these highly acclaimed yams?  If your answer is "yes," I'll let you know right now that you're probably wrong.  Raw yams are virtually inaccessible in the US because the demand is relatively low, they have to be imported from dry areas like central Africa, and food companies know they can put sweet potatoes in a can and we'll take their word for the fact that it's a can of yams.  The USDA doesn't crack down too hard on this labeling system, but if you look closely at any can of "yams" in your local grocery store, you're bound to find the "sweet potatoes" on there somewhere.

So what's the difference? A whole plant species, that's the difference.  Yams are part of the lily family whole sweet potatoes belong to the morning glory family.  They even look less alike than you'd probably imagine them to look.  There are white sweet potatoes in existence and orange yams, too, but the yams being referenced throughout the book are probably the big white ones with the dark, bark-like rind.  Not a handsome creature.  But a sweet potato would most likely not work well with the functions a yam is expected to have in Igbo areas.  The yam is tougher (allowing it to do well in dry soil and last longer in storage) and much starchier, making it fit for hearty meals like stew and yam fufu (or as Achebe calls it, "foo-foo").  I mean, could a root any less starchy than a bona fide yam stand up against the violent cooking that is fufu-making? Look here for some serious YAM ABUSE.  A sweet potato can't take that crap.