Roasted sweet potato is a popular winter street food in

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

and parts of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Regions

China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, yellow-fleshed

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

es are roasted in a large iron drum and sold as

street food Street food is food sold by a Hawker (trade), hawker or vendor on a street or at another public place, such as a market, fair, or park. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumption ...

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

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and

Northeast China Northeast China () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The regi ...

, as the name of sweet potatoes themselves varies across the

sinophone Sinophone, which means "Chinese language, Chinese-speaking", typically refers to an individual who speaks at least one Varieties of Chinese, variety of Chinese (that is, one of the Sinitic languages). Academic writers often use the term Sinophone ...

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

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Korea

Sweet potatoes roasted in drum cans, called ''gun-goguma'' (), are 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 (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

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

ushanka An ushanka (, , from , ), also called an ushanka-hat (, ), is a Russian fur hat with ear-covering flaps that can be tied up on the crown of the cap, or fastened at the chin to protect the ears, jaw, and lower chin from the cold. An alternativ ...

'', which is sometimes referred to as "roasted sweet potato vendor hat" or "roasted chestnut vendor hat". Although any type of '' goguma'' (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, 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'' smoothies are nowadays enjoyed in summer. Gungoguma (roasted sweet potatoes).jpg, ''Gun-goguma'' Gungoguma drum can (sweet potato roaster).jpg, Typical ''gun-goguma'' drum can in Korea Gungoguma drum can (sweet potato roaster) 2.jpg, Roasting '' goguma'' in a drum can Gungoguma mallaengi.jpg, ''Gun-goguma-mallaengi'' (half-dried roasted sweet potatoes) as a snack

Japan

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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

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

, Japan Ishi_yaki_imo_by_Kanko.jpg, Stone-baked potato wrapped in newspaper is a common style in Japan.

Northern Vietnam

Roasted sweet potato () is a popular winter street food in

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

and

Northern Vietnam Northern Vietnam or '' Tonkin'' () is one of three geographical regions in Vietnam. It consists of three geographic sub-regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sôn ...

Emoji

In 2010, an

emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis; , ) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of modern emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from type ...

was approved for

Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...

6.0 for "roasted sweet potato".

References

Chinese cuisine Japanese cuisine Korean cuisine Street food in China Street food in South Korea Sweet potato dishes {{Korea-cuisine-stub