Kamote

I like kamote. That lowly tuber that’s ugly on the outside but sweet on the inside. For many Pinoys, its notoriety as a flatulence-inducing delicacy only adds to its charm. The kamote may be cooked in various ways: roasted over hot coals, boiled, fried like potato chips or boiled and steeped in a sugar and water mixture called minatamis na kamote. Since my family is Visayan, our kamote is boiled then topped with guinamos or fish paste. But the hands-down favorite way of cooking kamote is to fry it with brown sugar then skewer the bits barbeque style.

In the vernacular, kamote also means something other than food. To describe someone as “nangangamote” means that the person is clueless. I don’t exactly know the etymology of this expression but it’s normally used to describe students who cannot answer their exam because they failed to study for it.

Last week, I was nangamote big time. I went to a presentation knowing that I had nothing. I knew that I was going to have my ass handed back to me but I went just the same. Halfway through, I wanted to crawl out of the room in sheer embarrassment. As my friend used to say, “E bakit kaya hindi pa ako lamunin ng lupa?!”

It’s fun to eat kamote. It’s not fun being a kamote.