Raw Yam?

[TylerDurden]

I don't think that starvation was the reason for HG tribes transforming into  agrarian societies in the Neolithic era.

[PaleoPhil]

OK, forget about that hypothesis of scientists, then, and focus on distinguishing between foods that are low in preference but eaten nearly every day versus foods that are only rarely eaten as a last resort. What word do you use for the latter to distinguish them from the frequently-eaten Hadza tubers that you called "starvation foods"?

[cherimoya_kid]

Phil, maybe those Hadza have evolved over generations to be able to easily digest raw tubers, but I just don't digest them well raw, and I imagine most people don't.  Theory is one thing, reality is another. 

[TylerDurden]

OK, forget about that hypothesis of scientists, then, and focus on distinguishing between foods that are low in preference but eaten nearly every day versus foods that are only rarely eaten as a last resort. What word do you use for the latter to distinguish them from the frequently-eaten Hadza tubers that you called "starvation foods"?

The wording of both categories you mentioned is flawed. Tubers belong in the category of disliked foods that are only eaten because a) they are plentiful and b) avoiding them could possibly lead to famine. Tubers are also in the category of foods that would be eaten in times of famine when less available foods were not so accessible.

[Dorothy]

Hey Iguana - I'm going to type out an excerpt from one of my gardening books for you on the sweet potato/yam definition - please excuse any typos from my copying. The book is by Dr. Sam Cotner:

"Today, some confusion exists as to what is a sweet potato and what is a yam. Many supermarkets carry vegetables that are labeled both yams and sweet potatoes, but the two appear to be exactly the same. Well, they are. There is a true yam but it's of African origin, is in no way related to the sweet potato, and is almost never sold at American markets. The confusion started when early slaves mistook the sweet potato for a yam because the two crops were grown and used in a similar manner. It wasn't long before sweet potatoes commonly were referred to as yams, especially in the South.

Our good neighbor stat the the east (it's a book for Texas gardeners) Louisiana, produes a large percentage of the sweet potatoes consumed in the United States. In an attempt to identify their sweet potatoes as superior and to increase demand for their crop, Louisiana sweet potato farmers decided a few years ago to trademark their sweet potatoes as "Louisiana Yams." The rest of us, though, grow plain old sweet potatoes."

[PaleoPhil]

Phil, maybe those Hadza have evolved over generations to be able to easily digest raw tubers, but I just don't digest them well raw, and I imagine most people don't.  Theory is one thing, reality is another.

It's not theory, it's the real world experience of the Hadza. I'm not saying that it necessarily relates to you or any other single individual and your individual experience doesn't dictate what will work for everyone else either. All the example of the Hadza and other peoples and Iguana and other Instinctos that eat raw tubers and legumes says is that the claims I see now and then that no tubers or legumes are edible raw or are not Paleo are bogus assumptions based on ignorance. I don't even fare very well on raw tubers or legumes myself, but I'm not going to claim that they're not Paleo just because of my personal experience. I'm also not advocating anything for anyone else, just sharing information that raises questions about a lot of claims in this forum and elsewhere. As one of my heroes, Socrates, proclaimed, the only thing I know is that I know nothing for certain.

My general mantra is "question everything"--within reason, of course. If someone tells you that all tubers and legumes are inedible unless cooked and totally not Paleo, you now can say, "But what about the //ekwa, groundnuts, etc. that the Hadza and other hunter-gatherers eat, sometimes raw?" The hunter-gatherers, pastoralists and horticulturalists have much to teach us, if we would only open our ears and eyes.

The wording of both categories you mentioned is flawed. Tubers belong in the category of disliked foods that are only eaten because a) they are plentiful and b) avoiding them could possibly lead to famine. Tubers are also in the category of foods that would be eaten in times of famine when less available foods were not so accessible.

As usual you didn't answer my question, which is exactly what I expected, but I'll give it another try. I'm not giving a wording, I'm asking what your wordings are. If you use "starvation foods" to describe the tubers that the Hadza eat regularly as one of their staple food categories, what term would you use for the foods that are less liked by the Hadza than tubers that they would likely only eat when desperate, such as grains, aka grass seeds?

[Dorothy]

If you use "starvation foods" to describe the tubers that the Hadza eat regularly as one of their staple food categories, what term would you use for the foods that are less liked by the Hadza than tubers that they would likely only eat when desperate, such as grains, aka grass seeds?

Can we call them "yuk yuks" please?

[PaleoPhil]

Sure, but I doubt Tyler would go for that. 

How about tubers edible raw are the barf foods and grains are the puke foods?  Still probably no go for Tyler, but fun to contemplate nontheless.

Do you think he'll ever answer the question directly?

[Dorothy]

Sure, but I doubt Tyler would go for that. 

How about tubers edible raw are the barf foods and grains are the puke foods?  Still probably no go for Tyler, but fun to contemplate nontheless.

Do you think he'll ever answer the question directly?

I guess puke foods might be a bit more "primal" of a word.
How about "I-yam-really-hungry-foods" and "I-seed-that-I's-gonna-have-to-be-sick-foods".

If he never answers then it's a draw - which I kinda like - so no, I doubt if he will ever answer and hope he doesn't! Then we can go on making up names, which is much more fun - at least for me.

[TylerDurden]

You know, PP, sometimes you sound like an erudite sage when you find some unusual data no one else has heard of, at other times you sound like O'Brian, the thought police leader in George Orwell's book 1984, such as in this case of double-speak/political correctness re the  supposed "right term" and similiar nonsense.

Tubers= "low-quality starvation" foods". Other foods only eaten in famine which are not tubers= "Desperation foods".

[PaleoPhil]

Thank you for answering the question, albeit grudgingly and with more of the usual insults. You're a veritable insult machine, but I know you can't help it. Asking a simple question has nothing to do with political correctness aside from delusional imagination.

[Dorothy]

I still like yuk-yuk the best. That's what I'm going to call sweet potatoes from now on!
But I eat the greens of my "yams" instead of the tubers - raw. They are a fabulous green for the summers here when few other greens can live through the heat and they really grow like weeds. I was thinking of starting all over my yard for the greens because they are so cheap and easy to start and maintain without much if any extra water - but also - just in case I ever get desperate.