“I Yam, What I Yam,” #FlashFiction

Posted on by Colleen M. Chesebro

The Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction March 4, 2021, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that includes sweet potatoes. It can be part of a recipe, meal, or used as a nickname. Where do sweet potatoes take you? The grocery store? The garden? Mars? Go where the prompt leads! Respond by March 9, 2021.

Image by Steve Adcock from Pixabay

“Excuse me, young man, you work in this department. Where’s the yams?”

“Do you mean sweet potatoes? You know, the orange ones?”

“Yeah, yams. I need ‘em to make my grandson’s favorite dish, Candied Yams.”

“Well now, ma’am. Yams are the brown ones and sweet potatoes are the orange ones. We have Beauregard, Jewel, and Garnet. Myself, I like the purple ones from Okinawa.”

The old woman stared at me and blinked her eyes. “Yams aren’t purple.”

I chuckled under my breath. “No ma’am. Yams are brown and look like roots.”

She smiled. “Yeah, you got any orange yams?”

23 thoughts on ““I Yam, What I Yam,” #FlashFiction”

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    1. I agree. I think all the different varieties got mixed up together. I still prefer the little potatoes that you can boil. They’re red, white and purple and taste great grilled too. Most sweet potatoes are just too mushy. LOL! 😀

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  8. It is fun to be inspired by what we hear around us!! You know I had gotten some purple green beans… but I was disappointed that when I cooked them they lost the purple color.

    I also discovered other root veggies too like parsnip and Daikon radish. Though I am not fond of poi made from taro.
    😀

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    1. I love the hot raddish! Thai food is one of my favorites and Korean follows a close second because of the hot taste. Have you seen the purple cauliflower? I’ve not tried it. I suppose I should. LOL! 😀

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      1. I watch a bunch of cooking shows… I generally eat stuff I know. But I’m willing to try a few new things… a while ago I belonged to a sort of veg co-op and tried some ‘snapes’ – “These thin, curly, vibrantly green stalks come into season in the late spring and early summer, when they’re often sold by the bunch. Garlic scapes are the stalks that grow from the bulbs of hardneck garlic plants. If left unharvested, the scapes eventually bloom flowers when the garlic plant fully matures”

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