Roasted Sweet Potatoes: A Postcolonial Conundrum

I often think I know the difference between Yams and Sweet Potatoes. Then what I thought I knew goes out the door.

By sweet potatoes, I mean the potatoes that are very orange on the inside when cooked, as opposed to yellow. I'm still unsure if this is true. Let me Google.

As it turns out, this is a popular point of confusion, a postcolonial conundrum, an oft-mistaken identity with roots in the African slave trade & diaspora. Read here for starters to learn more. I did learn at some time how sacred and essential the Yam has been in Africa and the Caribbean, as a sturdy crop that could withstand heavy rains, with tons of nutrients.

I've also never really known the difference between "roasting" and "baking," but I just Googled this for the first time here. Sounds like we "roast" foods that already have structure (meats, veggies) and "bake" foods that need heat to gain structure (cakes, breads, casseroles). Who knew!?

You start a post calling something "Baked Yams" and end the post re-naming it "Roasted Sweet Potatoes." Oh the mysteries of the world.....

1. Heat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Chop up between 3 and 6 sweet potatoes, however you'd like!
3. In a baking pan, toss in the sweet potatoes.
4. Drizzle olive oil, rosemary, lemon, thyme, or JUST S & P if that's all you've got!
5. Slide the pan in the oven and let roast about 40 minutes, or until soft to eat.
6. This is the best, most delicious, most simple winter dish. Always pleasing to the tongue and tummy! Yum!!!!

This dish is also, as it turns out, a great conversation piece surrounding race & colonialism at the dinner table. To quote Donna Haraway (who may have been quoting someone else), "What goes in and out of one's fleshly self is never innocent."