Editing Sweet potato (section)

====Oceania====
{{See also|Māori cuisine|Sweet potato cultivation in Polynesia}}

[[Māori people|Māori]] grew several varieties of small, yellow-skinned, finger-sized kūmara (with names including {{lang|mi|taputini}},<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz/assets/Marketing/Research/Current-working-papers/MaoriKumara.pdf |title=A guide to growing pre-European Māori kumara |author=Burtenshaw, M. |year=2009 |publisher=[[The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand]] |access-date=17 February 2011 |archive-date=22 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522094638/http://openpolytechnic.ac.nz/assets/Marketing/Research/Current-working-papers/MaoriKumara.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> {{lang|mi|taroamahoe}}, {{lang|mi|pehu}}, {{lang|mi|hutihuti}}, and {{lang|mi|rekamaroa}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_56_1947/Volume_56,_No._4/Original_kumara,_by_Enid_Tapsell,_p_325-332/p1 |title=Original Kumara |first=Enid |last=Tapsell |year=1947 |work=TJPS |volume=56 |issue=4 |pages=325–332 |access-date=17 February 2011 |archive-date=24 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724191414/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_56_1947/Volume_56,_No._4/Original_kumara,_by_Enid_Tapsell,_p_325-332/p1 |url-status=dead }}</ref>) that they had brought with them from east [[Polynesia]]. Modern trials have shown that these smaller varieties were capable of producing well,<ref name="Stuff.co.nz_2371731">{{cite news |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/2371731/Heritage-kumara-shows-its-worth |title=Heritage kumara shows its worth |author=Wilson, Dee |date=29 April 2009 |work=[[The Marlborough Express]] |access-date=15 November 2011 |archive-date=14 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614131642/http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/2371731/Heritage-kumara-shows-its-worth |url-status=live }}</ref> but when [[American whalers]], sealers and trading vessels introduced larger cultivars in the early 19th century, they quickly predominated.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thegrower.co.nz/article_view.php?aid=263 |title=Waitangi tribunal and the kumara claim |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724194448/http://www.thegrower.co.nz/article_view.php?aid=263 |archive-date=24 July 2011 |newspaper=The Grower |publisher=[[Horticulture New Zealand]]}}</ref><ref name="NZ_Herald_10421870">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/agriculture/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=10421870 |title=Kumara claim becomes hot potato |author=Stokes, Jon |date=1 February 2007 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=15 November 2011 |archive-date=22 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122075430/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/agriculture/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=10421870 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NZ_Herald_10422951">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10422951 |title=DNA analysis expected to solve kumara row |date=8 February 2007 |agency=[[NZPA]] |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=15 November 2011 |archive-date=30 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130142635/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10422951 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url= http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/kumara | title= Kumara | encyclopedia= An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand | editor= A. H. McLintock | orig-date= 1966 | date= 2005 | isbn= 978-0-478-18451-8 | first= Douglas Ernest | last= Yen | access-date= 11 February 2011 | archive-date= 25 April 2013 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130425070347/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/kumara | url-status= live }}</ref>

Prior to 2021, archaeologists believed that the sweet potato failed to flourish in New Zealand south of [[Christchurch]] due to the colder climate, forcing Māori in those latitudes to become (along with the [[Moriori]] of the [[Chatham Islands]]) the only Polynesian people who subsisted solely on [[Hunter-gatherer|hunting and gathering]]. However, a 2021 analysis of material excavated from a site near [[Dunedin]], some {{cvt|250|km|mi}} further south, revealed that sweet potatoes were grown and stored there during the 15th century, before the industry was disrupted by factors speculated to be due to the [[Little Ice Age]].<ref name="plos" />

Māori traditionally cooked kūmara in a [[hāngī]] ([[earth oven]]). This is still a common practice when there are large gatherings on [[marae]].

In 1947, black rot (''[[Ceratocystis fimbriata]]'') appeared in kūmara around Auckland and increased in severity through the 1950s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Slade |first1=D. A. |title=Black rot an important disease of Kumaras |journal=New Zealand Journal of Agriculture |date=1960 |volume=100 |issue=4 }}</ref> A disease-free strain was developed by [[Joe Gock|Joe]] and [[Fay Gock]]. They gave the strain to the nation, earning them the Bledisloe Cup in 2013.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Loren |first1=Anna |title=Bledisloe Cup for service to horticulture |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/manukau-courier/9012161/Bledisloe-Cup-for-service-to-horticulture |access-date=24 December 2018 |work=[[Manukau Courier]] |date=8 August 2013 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225031119/http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/manukau-courier/9012161/Bledisloe-Cup-for-service-to-horticulture |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/loading-docs-how-mr-and-mrs-gock-saved-the-kumara-2016 | title=Loading Docs 2016 – How Mr and Mrs Gock Saved the Kumara | publisher=[[NZ On Screen]] | work=Loading Docs | access-date=10 July 2019 | archive-date=10 July 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710132015/https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/loading-docs-how-mr-and-mrs-gock-saved-the-kumara-2016 | url-status=live }}</ref>

There are three main cultivars of kūmara sold in New Zealand: 'Owairaka Red' ("red"), 'Toka Toka Gold' ("gold"), and 'Beauregard' ("orange"). The country grows around 24,000 metric tons of kūmara annually,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.freshfacts.co.nz/files/freshfacts-2018.pdf|title=Fresh Facts: New Zealand Horticulture|date=2018|website=Plant & Food Research|issn=1177-2190|access-date=4 August 2019|archive-date=7 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707053253/https://www.freshfacts.co.nz/files/freshfacts-2018.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> with nearly all of it (97%) grown in the [[Northland Region]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/local/news/ohakune-has-its-carrot-and-dargaville-has-its-kuma/3676978/ |title=Ohakune has its carrot ... and Dargaville has its kumara |work=[[The Northern Advocate]] |first1=Mike |last1=Barrington |first2=Robyn |last2=Downey |date=18 March 2006 |access-date=24 July 2012 |archive-date=24 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724193541/http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/local/news/ohakune-has-its-carrot-and-dargaville-has-its-kuma/3676978/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Kūmara are widely available throughout New Zealand year-round, where they are a popular alternative to potatoes.<ref name="Stuff.co.nz_1397627">{{cite news |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/recipes/1397627 |title=How to cook with kumara |date=3 March 2009 |newspaper=[[Taranaki Daily News]] |access-date=15 November 2011 |archive-date=14 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614131620/http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/recipes/1397627 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kūmara are often included in roast meals, and served with [[sour cream]] and [[sweet chili sauce]].{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} They are served alongside such vegetables as potatoes and pumpkin and as such, are generally prepared in a savory manner. They are ubiquitous in supermarkets, roast meal takeaway shops and hāngī.

[[File:Papes de moniato (País Valencià, 1951).jpg|thumb|right|Drying sweet potatoes ([[Ribera Alta (comarca)|Ribera Alta]], 1951)]]
Among the [[Urapmin people]] of Papua New Guinea, [[taro]] (known in [[Urapmin language|Urap]] as {{Lang|urm|ima}}) and the sweet potato (Urap: {{Lang|urm|wan}}) are the main sources of sustenance, and in fact the word for 'food' in Urap is a [[compound (linguistics)|compound]] of these two words.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Joel |last=Robbins |year=1995 |title=Dispossessing the Spirits: Christian Transformations of Desire and Ecology among the Urapmin of Papua New Guinea |journal=[[Ethnology (journal)|Ethnology]] |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=211–24 |jstor=3773824 |doi=10.2307/3773824}}</ref>