Roasted sweet potato is a popular winter street food in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

In China, yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes are roasted in a large iron drum and sold as

street food Street food is ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or at other public places, such as markets or fairs. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumpt ...

during winter. They are called ''kǎo-báishǔ'' (; "roasted sweet potato") in northern China, ''haau faan syu'' () in Cantonese speaking regions, and ''kǎo-dìguā'' (; "roasted sweet potato") in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, as the name of sweet potatoes themselves vary across the

sinophone Sinophone, which means " Chinese-speaking", typically refers to an individual who speaks at least one variety of the Chinese language. Academic writers often use the term Sinophone in two definitions: either specifically "Chinese-speaking popula ...

world. File:Roasted sweet potato.jpg, roasted sweet potato from China File:Roasted sweet potatoes and chestnuts hawkers (Hong Kong).jpg, roasted sweet potatoes hawker in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Korea

Sweet potatoes roasted in drum cans, called ''gun-goguma'' (; "roasted sweet potato"), are also popular in both

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and South

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. The food is sold from late autumn to winter by the vendors wearing ''

ushanka An ushanka ( rus, уша́нка, p=ʊˈʂankə, from , "ears"), also called an ''ushanka- hat'' ( rus, ша́пка-уша́нка, p=ˈʂapkə ʊˈʂankə), is a Russian fur cap with ear-covering flaps that can be tied up to the crown of the ...

'', which is sometimes referred to as "roasted sweet potato vendor hat" or "roasted chestnut vendor hat". Although any type of ''

goguma The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young shoot ...

'' (sweet potato) can be roasted, softer, moist varieties such as '' hobak-goguma'' (pumpkin sweet potato) are preferred over firmer, floury varieties such as '' bam-goguma'' ("chestnut sweet potato") for roasting. In

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, roasted sweet potatoes are dried to make ''gun-goguma-mallaengi'' (), and frozen to make ice-''gun-goguma'' (). Although ''gun-goguma'' has traditionally been a winter food, ''gun-goguma'' ice cream and ''gun-goguma'' smoothie are nowadays enjoyed in summer. File:Gungoguma (roasted sweet potatoes).jpg, ''Gun-goguma'' File:Gungoguma drum can (sweet potato roaster).jpg, Typical ''gun-goguma'' drum can in

File:Gungoguma drum can (sweet potato roaster) 2.jpg, Roasting ''

'' in the drum can File:Gungoguma mallaengi.jpg, ''Gun-goguma-mallaengi'' (half-dried roasted sweet potatoes) as a snack File:Ice gungoguma (roasted sweet potato).jpg, Ice-''gun-goguma'' eaten as summer food File:Gungoguma ice cream.jpg, ''Gun-goguma'' ice cream (with package) File:Gungoguma ice cream 2.jpg, ''Gun-goguma'' ice cream (inside)

Japan

In Japan, similar street food is called ''ishi yaki-imo'' (; "roasted sweet potato in heat stones") and sold from trucks during the winter. File:Ishi yakiimo vendor by MShades in Nara.jpg, ''yaki-imo'' vendor in

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

, Japan File:Ishi_yaki_imo_by_Kanko.jpg, Stone baked potatoes wrapped in newspaper is a common style.

Northern Vietnam

Roasted sweet potatoes () is also a popular street food in

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

and

Northern Vietnam Northern Vietnam ( vi, Bắc Bộ) is one of three geographical regions within Vietnam. It consists of three administrative regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng S ...

in winter.

Emoji

In 2010, an emoji was approved for

Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, wh ...

6.0 for "roasted sweet potato".

References