Man stands in stream at Mai Chau fishing with net on pole near taro plants
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- May 1997
- Location
- Mai Chau, Vietnam
- License
- This photograph copyright ©1997. Terms of use
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Learn more
- Search LEARN NC for diet, farming, fishing, highlanders, hill tribes, Mai Chau, men's work, rural life, taro, and Vietnam.
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A highland man wearing a conical sunhat stands in a stream at Mai Chau fishing with a net on a pole. Visible in the foreground is a stand of large taro plants.
For highland peoples of Southeast Asia, riverine fishing is a main source of protein in their diet. The large-leafed plants in the foreground, often called “elephant ears” in the U.S., are taro, which have a starchy edible tuber at their base.
Peeled and cooked like a potato, taro roots are a filling but not highly nutritious food. They are, however, easy to grow and provide a ready source of food when other more favored crops such as rice are not available.
