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As a vegan who is constantly seeing anti-vegan (or pro-keto) sentiment on HN, it's nice to see a post about a Blue Zone[1]. Interestingly, the Okinawans eat a

by grardb 8y ago

As a vegan who is constantly seeing anti-vegan (or pro-keto) sentiment on HN, it's nice to see a post about a Blue Zone[1]. Interestingly, the Okinawans eat a different sweet potato from the one shown. It's appropriately named the Okinawa sweet potato, and it's purple on the inside, due to having a high antioxidant content similar to blueberries[2]. These are not to be confused with sweet potatoes that are purple on the outside, and often confusingly called Asian sweet potatoes or Japanese sweet potatoes[3]. If you live near an Asian market, you should try looking for the Okinawa sweet potato (I get mine from a Chinese place near my home in LA). It has a very different taste and texture. I personally like to cut them up, steam them, and throw them into a food processor. They develop an interesting pasty texture which I quite like. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zone [2] https://www.downtoearth.org/health/nutrition/okinawan-sweet-potato-purple-powerhouse-nutrition https://www.downtoearth.org/health/nutrition/okinawan-sweet-... [3] https://paleoleap.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/japanese-sweet-potatoes.jpg https://paleoleap.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/japanese-sw...

bufferoverflow 8y ago
Blue Zones are not vegan though. The Sicilian one is basically people eating pizzas, pasta with cheese, fish.
- HuShifang 8y ago
  Obviously not vegan. But, according to everything I've read, the so-called "Blue Zones" feature significantly fewer animal products in their diets than shorter-lived regions do in theirs. (And, Sicilians tend not to eat a lot of red meat, if I'm not mistaken. As far as animal products go, cheese and fish come with significantly less baggage in terms of health impacts.)
ianai 8y ago
Do you have anymore recipes for them? I think I’ll stop at an Asian grocery today. But I live off easy recipes.
- grardb 8y ago
  Honestly, I love sweet potatoes so much that I don't really use them in recipes, per se. I almost always just eat them as-is, completely on their own! There was one time I made mini sweet potato pies with the Okinawa variety inside a muffin tin, and another time when I made a cheesecake (vegan) that incorporated them. Obviously not healthy, but it was the holidays, hah. I think in general, tasting them on their own and figuring out what pairs well is your best bet. I think like "typical" (orange) sweet potatoes, they have that sweet-flavor-but-works-really-well-with-savory-foods property. As for the Asian/Japanese variety: those are my absolute favorite, and I only ever eat them completely plain, on their own. I just cut them up, steam, and eat. So delicious, although I suspect they're not quite as nutritious as the orange variety, but it's usually hard to find information on less well-known cultivars. Also! I should've mentioned this, but if anyone is searching for the Okinawa variety and can't find them, there's another purple sweet potato called the Stokes Purple sweet potato[1]. I have never seen them in person and have no idea how they taste, but I would bet they're not too different. [1] https://www.friedas.com/stokes-purple-sweet-potato/ https://www.friedas.com/stokes-purple-sweet-potato/
  - ianai 8y ago
    Do you have a quick low mess way to steam them somehow? I lucked out and my local grocery had Japanese sweet potatoes today.
    - grardb 8y ago
      No way in particular. I just have a steam basket for my big pot, which kinda looks like this: https://image.sportsmansguide.com/adimgs/l/2/231755_ts.jpg https://image.sportsmansguide.com/adimgs/l/2/231755_ts.jpg I just throw in the pieces (about 1-2 bites each in terms of size). Sometimes I pile them up all the way to the top! They're pretty strong, so they don't get squished or anything. Cleanup is super easy. Alternatively, boiling works just as well. I personally just find steaming to be faster (both in cooking and the retrieval of the food), it uses less water, and it eliminates the possibility of waterlogging them.
  - 8y ago
gniv 8y ago
Very interesting, thanks for sharing! Your second link says that the Okinawan sweet potato is a staple in Hawaiian cuisine. I wonder if there were studies comparing the health profiles of Hawaiian and Okinawan people.

by grardb 8y ago

bufferoverflow 8y ago

Blue Zones are not vegan though. The Sicilian one is basically people eating pizzas, pasta with cheese, fish.

HuShifang 8y ago
Obviously not vegan. But, according to everything I've read, the so-called "Blue Zones" feature significantly fewer animal products in their diets than shorter-lived regions do in theirs. (And, Sicilians tend not to eat a lot of red meat, if I'm not mistaken. As far as animal products go, cheese and fish come with significantly less baggage in terms of health impacts.)

ianai 8y ago

Do you have anymore recipes for them? I think I’ll stop at an Asian grocery today. But I live off easy recipes.

grardb 8y ago
Honestly, I love sweet potatoes so much that I don't really use them in recipes, per se. I almost always just eat them as-is, completely on their own! There was one time I made mini sweet potato pies with the Okinawa variety inside a muffin tin, and another time when I made a cheesecake (vegan) that incorporated them. Obviously not healthy, but it was the holidays, hah. I think in general, tasting them on their own and figuring out what pairs well is your best bet. I think like "typical" (orange) sweet potatoes, they have that sweet-flavor-but-works-really-well-with-savory-foods property. As for the Asian/Japanese variety: those are my absolute favorite, and I only ever eat them completely plain, on their own. I just cut them up, steam, and eat. So delicious, although I suspect they're not quite as nutritious as the orange variety, but it's usually hard to find information on less well-known cultivars. Also! I should've mentioned this, but if anyone is searching for the Okinawa variety and can't find them, there's another purple sweet potato called the Stokes Purple sweet potato[1]. I have never seen them in person and have no idea how they taste, but I would bet they're not too different. [1] https://www.friedas.com/stokes-purple-sweet-potato/ https://www.friedas.com/stokes-purple-sweet-potato/
- ianai 8y ago
  Do you have a quick low mess way to steam them somehow? I lucked out and my local grocery had Japanese sweet potatoes today.
  - grardb 8y ago
    No way in particular. I just have a steam basket for my big pot, which kinda looks like this: https://image.sportsmansguide.com/adimgs/l/2/231755_ts.jpg https://image.sportsmansguide.com/adimgs/l/2/231755_ts.jpg I just throw in the pieces (about 1-2 bites each in terms of size). Sometimes I pile them up all the way to the top! They're pretty strong, so they don't get squished or anything. Cleanup is super easy. Alternatively, boiling works just as well. I personally just find steaming to be faster (both in cooking and the retrieval of the food), it uses less water, and it eliminates the possibility of waterlogging them.
- 8y ago

gniv 8y ago

Very interesting, thanks for sharing! Your second link says that the Okinawan sweet potato is a staple in Hawaiian cuisine. I wonder if there were studies comparing the health profiles of Hawaiian and Okinawan people.