A typical Thai meal balancing spicy, sour and sweet flavours, consisting of spicy thom yam soup, weet and sour fish, fish patties, a curry dish and rice, Thailand, Southeast Asia, Asia

Women standing in a Yam field, Yanomami tribe, southern Venezuela, South America

Women from the Yanomami tribe standing in the jungle, southern Venezuela, South America

Street market, Malanje province, Angola, Africa

A woman negotiates the price whilst buying yams from a man selling them from the back of his bike, Tanzania, East Africa, Africa

An IDP camp (internally displaced people) in Te-Tugu district of Northern Uganda has been created to accommodate the mass of Ugandan refugees fleeing the LRA (Lords Resistance Army) who are fighting the Ugandan government and its people. With all attempts to be self-sufficient in these camps, Yams are an important vegetable for survival. The tubers can be stored up to six months without refrigeration, which makes them a valuable resource for the yearly period of food scarcity at the beginning of the wet season. Te-Tugu, Uganda, East Africa

Stuffing, sweet potatoes and smoked turkey on wooden table

Sliced ham on buffet table

Potatoes and greens on plate

Chicken and sweet potato souffle

Variety of potatoes on white wooden table

Bowl of sweet potato souffle

Bowl of sweet potatoes with pecans

Plate of candied yams and spoon

Plate of candied yams

green juice

Baskets of vegetables on a farm, yams

African women harvesting yam plants in the Hhohho region of eSwatini, Africa.

Yam on a market, Malekula, Vanuatu, South Pacific, Oceania

Yam on a market, Malekula, Vanuatu, South Pacific, Oceania

Aerial view of the ruins of Ashdod-Yam in the Coastal plain, Israel

WEST INDIES St Lucia Castries Fruit and vegetable street market. Pumpkins carrots cabbage yams spring onions bananas oranges near street with traffic lights and ice-cream vendor in background.

A field of malanga, a root vegetable similar to a yam, on a farm in La Habana Province in central Cuba, Cuba