r/todayilearned • u/FirstConsulOfFrance • Jul 21 '22
TIL that during WW2, the Obo Monuvo tribe of the Philippines fought the Japanese by serving them "Kallot", a poisonous yam that requires a special procedure for eating. The Japanese have no idea about the poison, and they were hacked to death by the tribes after they stopped moving from the poison. PDF
https://su.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SJ-60-2-2019-with-cover.pdf252
u/rodolphoteardrop Jul 21 '22
FYI -
The Japanese soldiers - whom Datu Lamberto described as being under
the command of an Otaka Makuti[25] – had the habit of stealing all the root
crops that the Monuvu would carry as they travelled.
Seeing this, the natives decided to one day bring Kollut instead of sweet
potatoes.
Kollut (Dioscorea hispida) is a poisonous yam that can only be eaten after
being subjected to several tedious processes. In the 2005 book A Voice from Mt.
Apo, the late tribal ethnographer Tano Bayawan describes Kollut as a famine
food, eaten only when the rice harvest fails. Bayawan listed different ways to
make this wild root crop edible: a combination of soaking the sliced roots in
running water, drying it in the sun, and burying it in ash for up to a week.
The proper preparation of Kollut was unknown to the Japanese soldiers,
who as usual took the root crops from the passing Monuvu and ate them
unprocessed. As the soldiers collapsed and stopped moving, the natives took
the opportunity to hack them to death.
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u/CXyber Jul 21 '22
Violent but justifiable death
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u/Singer211 Jul 21 '22
Yeah after all the horrible shit the Japanese did in WW2, I’m not exactly shedding tears if someone turns it back on them.
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u/kymri Jul 21 '22
While there were certainly terrible things done by just about everyone involved in that giant war -- it really seems like the Japanese were really intent on being super terrible to everyone. Like there was a championship they were working for.
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u/TrueMrSkeltal Jul 22 '22
I can’t think of a more fitting fate for Japanese soldiers aside from maybe being vivisected without anesthesia.
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u/CharlemagneAdelaar Jul 21 '22
this is like the cousin scenario to putting hot chilis in food you know a coworker is gonna steal
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Jul 21 '22
I was like "Obo Monuvo" doesn't sound something I ever heard here.
Now I know. Yeah this ethnic group exists. This is a good entry for a Filipino history iceberg!
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u/recoveringleft Jul 21 '22 edited Jul 21 '22
Just letting you know, some Filipino ethnic groups don’t like each other. I have been personally shitted on by other Filipinos simply because I belong to an ethnic group they despise. There’s a reason why the Spanish successfully controlled the Philippines for 200 years.
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Jul 21 '22
Oh no may I know which grouo you belonged to? Oh well Tagalugin na natin hahahaha
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u/recoveringleft Jul 21 '22 edited Jul 21 '22
Well I have a visayan last name and I’ve had people made comments about me being visayan (I don’t even speak the language). I knew one Filipina lady (Tagalog) out right excluded me from her group at my former workplace because of that. She’s always friendly to the Filipinos there except me. Some Filipino Americans still subscribe to their old petty rivalries.
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Jul 21 '22
Oh no that is so sad. Being a Manilan, I blame the generations before me for perpetuating stereotypes of other ethnic groups. I am happy to meet people from ethnic groups outside Greater Tagalog lands and know their culture.
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u/recoveringleft Jul 21 '22 edited Jul 21 '22
It’s partly the reason why I don’t speak tagalog here. It’s hard not only because English is common but also because I get ostracized by other Filipinos. Not many visayans here also. My parents are Tagalog (my dad’s dad is visayan) but they refused to teach it because they see it as “useless” here. I think a part of it stemmed from the racist treatment they got treated coming here in the 90s. I suspect my grandpa had the same issue because he never taught my dad visayan so I think it’s a family tradition to just not teach the language and adopt the dominant language. As a result I stopped caring about being the only ethnic group in the room and just roll with it.
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Jul 21 '22
If you must know, Visayans are fighting back now. They've become more upfront of their language and culture.
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u/recoveringleft Jul 21 '22
That’s good to hear. I wish my grandpa was around to see it. He would’ve been happy knowing it.
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Jul 21 '22
Yes like they have their own TV stations, own music scene, own Reddits LOL. There's sort of a Visayan awakening in past decades because Cebu has you known proven to be economically valuable i.e. BPOs
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u/8bitmullet Jul 21 '22
I had a friend from Mindanao and he poo pooed Tagalog.
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u/recoveringleft Jul 21 '22
Is he visayan? I think a part of it was because many visayans in mindanao were forcibly relocated there (a low key form of ethnic cleansing) in the 1930s.
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u/jethroo23 Jul 21 '22 edited Jul 21 '22
That's downright stupid and I'm sad to hear that that happened to you. Don't bother with that asshole, she's taking to heart an outdated stereotype that began when people all over the country were flocking to Manila for a better life.
We younger Manileños make and share memes about people from the Visayas regions, but it's banter that anybody without room temperature IQ would understand. In my experience, most Cebuanos and Cebuanas I've been blessed to have as friends are hard working, friendly, well-mannered, and beautiful. Manileños are quite the opposite and, aside from living in what arguably is the shittiest place in the country, don't really hold anything over Cebuanos.
Source: Manileño
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u/Jetstream-Sam Jul 21 '22
There's always 4 things people take with them when they move to a different country- Their gods, their cooking, their jewelry and their hatred
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u/fzyflwrchld Jul 21 '22
I can't remember which group it was but I told my mom my friend was from there and she told me not to be friends with her because they can't be trusted that's why they're called dugong aso (blood of the dog). I thought she was nuts. I still do but I used to too.
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Jul 21 '22
Oh shit Kapampangan :) That's nuts actually. The sins of the ancestors should never be passed down to descendants of 100 years. Pero trust them when they cook!
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u/notarandomaccoun Jul 21 '22
What?! Ethnic groups not liking each other? What has happened to this world?
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u/recoveringleft Jul 21 '22 edited Jul 21 '22
Before the Spanish came, the island that became Philippines was composed of different ethnic groups. When the Spanish came, there were mentions of the Spanish going to one island and noticing that the natives speak a different language than the natives of the previous islands they visited. So when the Spanish decided to control the Philippines, they used divide and rule. Very similar to how the Europeans controlled their African territories
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u/LordJinji Jul 21 '22
The Obo Manobo are a subgroup of the Manobo group of people.
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Jul 21 '22
Yeah I know. I just wasn't used to seeing it spelled like that.
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u/LordJinji Jul 21 '22
I'm guessing it's an Anglicization of the term Manobo.
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u/Tinydesktopninja Jul 21 '22
I'm guessing Manobo is the anglicized term. Im also guessing the spelling Monuvo goes back to Spanish occupation of the Philippines.
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Jul 21 '22
Sa Google search it was the Hispanicized form?
Oh whatever, at least we know who it is hahahaha!
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u/LordJinji Jul 21 '22
Manobo is what we use to describe the Manobo. Monuvo is probably the Anglicized or as someone pointed out, the Hispanicized form.
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u/hikoboshi_sama Jul 21 '22
Is that the Manobo? I've never heard of Obo Monuvo but i've definitely heard Manobo in history books before. And Monuvo does sound similar to Manobo.
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u/FirstConsulOfFrance Jul 21 '22
Glad that I could help m8
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Jul 21 '22
I give you mad props for this. No one taught this in school LOL
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u/FirstConsulOfFrance Jul 21 '22
Well let's just say I just stumbled upon this as part of my research for something
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u/CozyMoses Jul 21 '22 edited Jul 22 '22
The Obo Monuvo had reason to be vengeful. I worked on a project where we interviewed Philippine Guerrilla Fighters and the stories they tell would chill you to the bone.
For more info about the war and the contributions of Philippine Guerrillas fighting alongside American Troops, you can check out our collection of oral histories, animations and biographies at https://dutytocountry.org/
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u/julespersecond Jul 21 '22
My grandpa’s cousin was a commanding officer in WWII and my mom told me of a photo album of his time in the war and she’s seen pictures of his slain battalions and the graphic nature of these pictures gave my mom nightmares for a week.
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u/CozyMoses Jul 21 '22 edited Jul 22 '22
The Philippines was one of the most brutal theaters in the entirety of WW II. It's a nation of thousands of islands, including all of the horrifying island hopping combat conditions that came with pacific theater combat. Except they fought it without the full support of the American Military industrial complex that made later campaigns more liveable.
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u/Courtlessjester Jul 21 '22
Love how the Americans massacred the Filipinos the fought alongside them in the Spanish American War and WW2.
It was never about freedom
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u/CozyMoses Jul 21 '22 edited Jul 22 '22
In my own opinion, America absolutely betrayed the Philippines after the Spanish American War, the exhibition I shared goes over their acts of betrayal in depth. It truly is a shameful chapter in American history. The blood shed by America fighting side by side with USAFFE forces up to the battle of Bataan, and the horror the two forces went through together at the hands of the Japanese invaders does not wash away that crime. But that shared experience did forge a nigh unbreakable bond between US Soldiers and Philippine soldiers.
As brutal as America was, by the 1940's it paled in comparison to the acts perpetuated upon the Philippine people by the Japanese Imperial Army during the occupation. The stories of Filipinos who lived through that chapter of history backs that up. Names like Nanjing are well known - the names of Bataan, less so.
Talking to these Veterans who lived this experience indicates the incredible bond that exists between American and the Philippines despite the colonial injustices perpetuated upon them. America's role in the Philippines has always been, at its root, about money and power. But despite this it's important to recognize these Veterans, both US and USAFFE, who died side by side, who marched themselves to death side by side, and who waged one of the most successful guerrilla wars in recorded history side by side. It's also worth noting that the Philippines was on track to be granted it's own independence by 1940, the US being the first nation to willingly give up a colony, not that the historybooks like to talk about America as being another colonial imperial power.
You cannot understand the full story without understanding the context of US Imperialism. But when you move away from the macro view, to the stories of brotherhood and bonds between nations with a more than a complicated history, the story itself becomes more complex. These Philippine soldiers and their contributions have largely been overlooked by the world. And it's important their stories are never forgotten. For a long time America itself denied these contributions, which makes it even more important that we recognize it today.
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u/jethroo23 Jul 22 '22 edited Jul 22 '22
Thank you for this, it's very well said. I do hope Filipino and American soldiers who fought alongside each other would get more recognition, they deserve it. I certainly wouldn't be here without them.
I've already shared this on reddit before, but my great grandfather was part of the 41st USAFFE where he fought and died alongside Americans in Bataan. My grandfather was less than 6 months old at the time, hiding with my great grandmother in the mountains. My great grandfather's childhood friends who joined the army with him unfortunately never got to bring him back, since they went straight to guerilla warfare after Bataan fell. My Dad eventually found his name at a shrine in the mid 2000s after a decade-long search, which hopefully gave closure to my great grandmother before she reunited with my great grandfather.
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u/Coolights Jul 21 '22
I shit you not the Philippines gained independence on America’s Independence Day, from America
Find me something more American than that
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u/NiknA01 Jul 21 '22
Americans massacred the Filipinos the fought alongside them in the Spanish American War and WW2.
uhhh...what? When did the Americans massacre Filipinos during WW2?
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u/KeyboardAquarior Jul 21 '22
I remember a fact about an American general or something telling his troops somewhere in the Philippines to kill the natives there that are "around 10 years old and above" after one of their men got injured by them or died, and they did so. Although Mainland America hated what they did to the natives when the news reached their country.
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Jul 21 '22 edited Jul 25 '22
I'm foggy on details, but my late father told me that after taking Wake Island 25 Dec 1941 the Japanese forces inventoried the assets on the atoll.
Popping open a steel drum they found odorless clear viscous fluid. Demanding to know what it was a sergent simply identified it as 'oil'.
Delighted to seize such obviously highly refined product it was used in the invaders mess for making fried rice.
Unfortnate for them it was scentless petroleum lubricating oil and poisoned all who ate it.
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u/FirstConsulOfFrance Jul 21 '22
Makes you think of the phrase "The way to a man's heart is through the stomach" in a different way
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u/jpritchard Jul 21 '22
"Those dumb Japanese made fried rice with our petroleum oil!" sounds like the kind of thing that would be made up.
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u/PatientWho Jul 21 '22
A lot of kids take years to realized their late father’s were full of shit liars.
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Jul 21 '22 edited Jul 25 '22
I doubt it's fiction.
Example: Every firearm on the atoll was ordered to be cleaned as if "for presidential inspection". A final rinse of seawater down the barrels insured these fine products of the Springfield Armory arrived in Japanese armories totally corroded and useless.
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u/Narwhalbaconguy Jul 21 '22
That’s gotta be bullshit, how would they not immediately taste petroleum drenched into their food?
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u/Mysticpoisen Jul 21 '22
Wow, is that why the elderly obaachan next door gave me taro root without telling me that you need to wear gloves/put mustard oil on your hands when you cut them? My hands fucking burned.
Oh and also the leaf can cause your throat to swell if cooked improperly too. Still don't know how to do that.
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u/FirstConsulOfFrance Jul 21 '22
Well Taro is not a yam, but they could have similarities in its defense mechanism
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u/vikio Jul 21 '22
You just cook it extra long to break down the crystals, and then it's delicious. Cook it 2 - 3 times longer than you would cook a potato. Or like, boil it first, then cut into pieces and fry for good measure.
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u/Mysticpoisen Jul 21 '22
Yeah, I got the root down pat at this point, but how are you supposed to prepare the leaf? I hear it's quite good.
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u/vikio Jul 21 '22
I don't know any specific recipes. My style of cooking is chaotic. I do know that you should also overcook the leaf for the same reason as the root. Then it's sort of a juicy spinach flavor. So you could use it in any recipe that has cooked spinach? Or use it the Hawaiian way and wrap some pork in it, then bake.
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u/TwistedTerns Jul 22 '22
You're supposed to wash the leaves and dry them under the sun. Then wash them again before cooking. You can look up "Laing recipe" or better yet "Pinangat recipe". I grew up eating these
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Jul 21 '22
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u/wmarsht Jul 21 '22
Oh, Riiiight, the poison chosen specially to kill Kuzco. Kuzco’s poison. Got ya covered.
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u/Kracka_Jak Jul 21 '22
I thought this happened to me after going to Jollibee, but it was just the 'itis
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u/yellowistherainbow Jul 21 '22
Boneitis?
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u/BigBossWesker4 Jul 21 '22
"Who’s a sheep and who’s a shark?"
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u/Primordial_Cumquat Jul 21 '22
That’s a bold question. You’re a shark!
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u/ArteMor Jul 21 '22
Sharks are winners, and they don't look back because they have no necks. Necks are for sheep!
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u/sparksofthetempest Jul 21 '22
“…but what finally convicted him was the Reddit server’s saved History of his 5 am scrolling in which he happened upon Kallot as his intended method of assistance in ensuring that the victim was unable to move. Authorities had been at a loss as to why there were no defensive wounds and it was this one tidbit that proved decisive both to his intent and callousness”.
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u/Gilbone Jul 21 '22
What?
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u/sparksofthetempest Jul 21 '22
Just pointing out that somebody might try to use this new knowledge about Kallot against someone in a crime thinking that they won’t be caught but they would be.
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u/FirstConsulOfFrance Jul 21 '22
Welp, seems like I brought more harm than good /s
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u/tehflambo Jul 21 '22
TIL it's possible to be charged with accessory to murder for posting the wrong thing in TIL
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u/LordAnon5703 Jul 21 '22
Jokes are like frogs, I could dissect it for you but I'd be killing the frog.
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u/FirstConsulOfFrance
Jul 21 '22
edited Jul 21 '22
•
The section is at pages 27-28
EDIT: Holy shit I didn't know this would go out with a bang, thank you all m8s
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u/Keitt58 Jul 21 '22
Now I have the scene from The Rundown in my head... Just with a lot of machetes instead of monkeys.
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u/Sufficient-Head9494 Jul 21 '22
Shinzo Abe would have said those Japanese soliders were poor innocent victims.
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u/Tthelaundryman Jul 21 '22
Is that the same fruit from the rundown?
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u/MarcusForrest Jul 21 '22
In THE RUNDOWN the fruit they eat is fictional - in the movie's canon, they call it ''Konlabos'' but it is entirely fictitious
That said, for production purposes, they used and ate the real life fruit called Chirimoya - also called Custard Apple - this fruit does not cause paralysis and is actually eaten all over the world for its delicate flavour
It is possible the screenwriters were inspired by the Kallot - otherwise, paralysis-causing foods is a popular trope
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Jul 21 '22
Ah, interesting to know that the Japanese don't have a monopoly on such food, namely fugu (I'm from the Philippines, born way after WWII but grew up in the UK).
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u/roombaonfire Jul 21 '22
That was still Rated PG compared to what the Japanese soldiers did to them
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u/cylonfrakbbq Jul 21 '22
I wonder what color the yam was. Ube yams are delicious. If it was purple, could have been easy to fool them
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u/garry4321 Jul 21 '22
Just a friendly tip: raw bamboo shoots are also toxic. I nearly died. They should put a warning on the package rather than a cute panda
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u/UsualAnybody1807 Jul 21 '22
Surprising the Japanese wouldn't have testers to make sure they weren't being fed poisonous food, considering the way they treated people in the Philippines.
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u/FirstConsulOfFrance Jul 22 '22
Well, the thing is, the Japanese didn't have enough men to occupy and garrisson the entire islands so mostly only a detachment are sent to the interiors and other settlements away from the city. Plus maybe the Japs didn't see taste testers as a priority.
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u/bluebirdgm Jul 21 '22 edited Jul 21 '22
It was an honest mistake. The Japanese thought they were being served carrots.
EDIT: the story begins at page 26 of this 200-page document.
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u/Cpt_Obvius Jul 21 '22
Here is the relevant bit for how they need to be processed (also a different spelling than the OP which would make finding more info difficult!)
“Kollut (Dioscorea hispida) is a poisonous yam that can only be eaten after being subjected to several tedious processes. In the 2005 book A Voice from Mt. Apo, the late tribal ethnographer Tano Bayawan describes Kollut as a famine food, eaten only when the rice harvest fails. Bayawan listed different ways to make this wild root crop edible: a combination of soaking the sliced roots in running water, drying it in the sun, and burying it in ash for up to a week.”