Do You Still Have Your Pandemic Yams from March?
Picture it, Friday the 13th in March of 2020, the day the United States of America lost their sanity. Friday the 13th is traditionally already a scary day of the year, but for America, it was the most threatening Friday the 13th we have ever experienced.
No, it wasn’t the aliens. Though if you would have asked us in 2019, that might have been our answer.
Americans were in complete disarray after the United States of America declared a state of emergency for the country. Rightfully so, since this news came right after the NBA postponed the season after a Covid-19 outbreak. Who knew a basketball game would be the turning point of a national emergency?
With the initial spark of the panic-inducing event racing in our minds, we all remember how the Americans proceeded to conduct themselves. To quickly sum it up for you, grocery stores were running bare, people were making a killing selling hand sanitizer at a monopoly price on Ebay, and we all had a realization that we definitely touched our face more than the CDC recommended. While the supermarkets floundered under the unanimous outcry for toiletries and instant-ready foods, I remember making a shocking observation during an anxious trip at Walmart. It was something so particularly peculiar, that I am still in awe.
WHY were the canned yams sold out?
I remember sauntering through the countless aisles of Walmart, astonished by the many families with carts full of food and other necessities. It was as if they were preparing for an apocalypse. Like hello, didn’t you already have soap and paper towels before a pandemic hit?? I thought these were normal things to have stock of, but apparently not.
Anyways, I couldn’t help but notice during my observations that while most aisles looked bleak, the entire canned food aisle was empty. This meant that delicacies like spam, canned bacon, and mushrooms were in high demand for the first time ever. I bet the companies that manufacture these commodities were shockingly surprised by their dumbfounded ticket to success. Finally, a target market — Alarmed Americans.
This made me sit back and wonder, why the canned yams? Who actually eats these? My understanding was that it was a filler item to make your cupboard appear more well-rounded.
I had so many questions.
Are the canned yams the canned version of an aged filet mignon? The sea to our oyster? The crowned jewel of canned goods??
With my curiosity at an astonishing level considering the sellout of canned yams, I decided to do some research. What are the benefits of canned yams? Do people actually use them? You see, I came from a household that did not hoard canned goods. Clearly, most American households did hoard these items since that was a unanimous instinct with the news of the pandemic…
Yearning for Yams Yet?
Commonly mistaken for sweet potatoes, yams are actually an African based vegetable that is packed full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Because of these benefits, yams can have the ability to enhance brain functionality. Brain food one might say! According to a 12-week study hosted by the National Institutes of Health, people that took a yam supplement had higher brain function than a placebo group.
Another yam standout is that antioxidants in yams are tentatively linked to having anticancer components. Also in the National Institutes of Health database, an animal study was conducted and showed a diet rich with yams reduced colon tumors in animals. Research is limited and tests on humans haven’t been performed yet, but it is something to consider.
Though I do heavily judge those who succumbed to the unfortunate sale of canned goods nearly nobody enjoys, through my research, it does appear that yams do have some positive benefits that outshine other canned commodities. I still question why people would physically reach for a can of yams and think, “Yes, this is my ticket to surviving the pandemic!” Well, probably nobody thought that; they just grabbed any items that were still available.
If you still have your pandemic purchase sitting in your cupboard, maybe it’s time to take that out and either A) chunk it or B) use it to provide brain and cancer-fighting properties to your regular diet. Luckily, we are in the midst of the crisp winter season, so maybe you can find a recipe for your canned yams. Regardless of what you decide to do with your pandemic yams, stay warm, stay safe, and enjoy the January 2021 winter season (with your yams).
SOURCES
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/yam-benefits#TOC_TITLE_HDR_5
https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170072/nutrients
