Memories of yam

(Baonghean) - In the first month of the lunar year, the yam sprouts in the forest begin to emerge above the ground. February and March are the lean months. In the past, when hunger struck, everyone in the village and surrounding areas went into the forest to dig up yams to eat as a meal. The yam pits in the forest were sometimes deep enough to submerge a person's head… creating unforgettable memories of poverty and hardship. Memories of living off the forest, relying mainly on the forest for survival, intimately connected to the forest like fish to water!

Nowadays, the villages and hamlets are becoming increasingly prosperous and civilized. Yam is no longer just a simple, ordinary staple food; it has become a specialty, a rare and highly prized item in the highland markets. A kilogram of yam now costs over 60,000 dong. People who dig for yams now have to pack rice and travel far into the forest, searching and digging all day long, and even then, they might only find three or four kilograms at most. Three or four kilograms of yams brought to the market sell, and without any marketing or persuasion, people compete to buy them.

Wash the yam.

Earning around two hundred thousand dong a day is already a very high income. Finding the vines and digging up wild yams isn't easy, which is why the price of a kilogram of yams keeps rising... By the end of March, meaning the yam season in the forest is over, the price of yams can reach 90,000 dong per kilogram. Eating yams is now very difficult. The price of abandoning the forest is too high for the local people today! Ms. Vi Thi On, from Chau Thanh commune (Quy Hop district), considered a former "yam digger," confided to us that in just a few years, the yams in the forest will be completely gone; there will be no more roots for them to sprout. But people want to eat yams forever because they are delicious and nutritious... How wonderful it would be if we could grow yams in the forest like we grow other types of potatoes!

Mrs. On's feelings truly reflect the feelings of the villagers and people of the region who have been connected to the yam plant in their mountainous homeland for generations!

Text and photos:Thai Tam