The Fate of a Country in The Hands of a Yam
Posted: November 3rd, 2010, 10:13 am
Could sweet potato pie have determined the future of a country? When Christopher Columbus returned to Spain he brought home the tuber we call the sweet potato. It quickly gained popularity as an aphrodisiac and was part of the dowry from Katherine of Aragon to King Henry VIII. Henry's desperation for bearing male heirs encouraged his obsession with sweet potatoes. He would eat as many as half a dozen in a single sitting. Little did he know that sweet potatoes and yams are linked today to cause an increase in estrogen. This fact is not helpful while the male sex cell is responsible for determining a baby's sex. Ironically the King's sweet potato pie gluttony he was thinking worked like Viagra, could have actually been the reason a male heir was impossible. I will definitely think of Thanksgiving dinner differently now.