Monthly Photos　January 2021

Photos taken by ILCAA staff and associates are posted here once a month; most of them are taken during their field research in Asia and Africa.

(The copyright belongs to the photographers.)

Roasted sweet potatoes in Cairo, Egypt

Speaking of winter, roasted sweet potatoes are sold on the street! Attired in purple, they are soft, flaky, and very sweet. You may think that they are a winter feature only in Japan. But that’s not true. They are also an Egyptian winter feature.
In Egypt, potatoes are called "bataatis" (an Arabic word for "potatoes"), and sweet potatoes are called "bataata". "Bataata" have purple skins and yellow flesh like Japanese sweet potatoes. But containing higher moisture content than Japanese one, they are sticky rather than flaky. Bataata, which warm bodies of Cairene people in satisfying their appetite, are one of the popular street foods.

Winter, 2012
Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt
Photograph by Wakako KUMAKURA