11/21/2009 – Close your eyes and imagine your family's Thanksgiving table. I put good money on it that it includes Louisiana sweet potatoes. Dark orange and full of beta-carotene, we call them yams (from the West African word "djambi" meaning "to eat"). However, they're not really yams. Yams are long, tree-like tubers from Latin America with waxy bark-like skins. Needless to say, I doubt we'll stop calling them yams anytime soon. This time of year, they're great, they're everywhere and we're seeing more white sweet potatoes than ever before.