It is said that there are some thousands of yam species throughout the world.
In the field of agriculture, Yamaimo(yam) is in the genus Dioscorea spp.
Especially, West Africa has a yam cultivation zone extending across some African nations, which is called ‘Yam Belt’. It is the largest production zone, producing 90 percent of all yams in theworld.
Yam preparation methods vary from region to region. The most common method is pounding steamed yam, which is similar to the process of Mochi(Japanese rice cake).
Also in China, there is much demand for yam as a cooking ingredient and as a Chinese herbal medicine called Shanyao.
It is seems that Chinese people don’t eat yam raw though they have various recipes for yam.
On the contrary, eating yam raw is a part of the Japanese food culture. Japanese people have eaten grated raw yam since ancient times. People in Japan enjoy grated yam by poring it over boiled rice
or Soba(buckwheat noodles), by drizzling it with soy-source and so on.
Yam is one of the most well-known cooking stuff in the world, and Japan has special cooking methods of yam that have been little-known in other countries .