It was time to update my illustration business and I had a joyful time brainstorming new names. I listed words I like the sound of, like sopuli (lemming in Finnish), zarrapastrosa (scruffy in Spanish), caxixi (a brazilian maraca), potis (nickname for potato in Swedish)… but weird and unpronounceable doesn’t work when you want people to remember how to write your name. Since I work on a lot of agroecology and sustainability, a plant that embodies agrobiodiversity seemed like a good choice: Malanga, the yam! That delicious hefty root with little purple dots that becomes smooth and silky when cooked in coconut milk on Zanzibar: magimbi.

Or, what yam? The Yanks use this word for sweet potato. There’s taro, in many colours, is it the same tuber I have in mind? Is malanga the huge unwieldy one I thought it is, or the small, round, hairy one with the soapy texture, or is that nyame? I even listened to the Gastropod episode to try to work this out. Plus, the internet is full of confusion and there’s a non-edible version.

But after several rabbitholes of research, here’s my Xanthosoma mexicanum logo. Celebrating this nutritious, indigenous, delicious, world-conquering corm and base of a diversified vegetable garden!