Re: edible aroids

From: shlam at eee.hku.hk (LAM Shing) on 1997.04.16 at 03:01:17(624) > i doubt that is accurate. i don't speak vietnamese (bac ha) nor > cantonese (bok choy) but in taiwanese, peh-tsai ("white vegetable") > denotes nappa cabbage and is a widespread term that in other chinese > dialects is applied to other leafy vegetables, including the one that > we call bok choy, (i suspect "bok" is cantonese for white). > incidentally, "tsai" (taiw.) or "choy" (cant.) not only designates > leafy vegetables but also is used to mean "dish", as in, "we should > order two dishes for dinner tonight." Right. FYI, under the pinyin system, the same vegetable is written as "bai4 cai4" (the numerals denote the tone). +More > 4) here in new york's chinatown, some vegetarian restaurants serve > dishes made of "yams", including translucent noodles. i suspect that > the yams used are not the true yams (dioscoraea) nor sweet potatoes > (ipomoea), but an aroid, possibly amorphophallus. would anyone know > for sure? Amorphophallus spp. (albus, konjac, etc.) are being cultivated in a sizable scale in China for the starch. After processing, the starch is used to make a variety of food products, from fruit jelly to noodles, and notably imitation meat products for vegetarians. -- Shing LAM ªL¸Û shlam@plato.eee.hku.hk Hong Kong

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