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AFRICAN FUNDAMENTAL RULES OF COOKING

by Dele
(Nigeria)

I eat cocoyam a lot, and have never had a bad experience. It is delicious and highly medicinal. Just ene you cook it ( I really wonder why someone would want to eat uncooked food! Really sounds strange). Also be careful of the falacy of raw foods;it is historically dangerous to follow such line of thinking.

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Jul 31, 2020
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Yes, listen to experience !
by: Caroline

Thank you for your interesting contribution Dele ! Your remark on the need for cooking should encourage people to grow and use Cocoyam safely.

Apparently it is full of oxalates, which also form sharp microscopic crystals that severely irritate the mouth and digestive tract. I can't think why after all these warnings people would try and eat it raw. Perhaps due to lack of experience people under cook them ? What would you say is the minimum time needed to get rid of this toxin ? Descriptions online are very vague. That information might help people to consume it safely. I have enjoyed delicious yam dishes prepared by a professional cook in Ibadan while attending a summer school there and I'm a total convert to indigenous foods from this continent.

Another thing, there are so are many other plants like wild greens growing at the Cape which are really delicious but also contain oxalates. Again and again the oxalates are mentioned and that cooking neutralizes them. If we just learned to prepare these wild foods properly we would find we are surrounded by a vegetables in nature. So much God given abundance !

Thank you and I hope you can find the time to contribute here again and direct people on how to cook Cocoyam safely !

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