Sweet potato
The sweet potato became a favorite food item of the French and Spanish settlers and thus continued a long history of cultivation in Louisiana. Sweet potatoes are recognized as the state vegetable of Alabama, Louisiana, and North Carolina. Sweet potato pie is also a traditional favorite dish in Southern U.S. cuisine. Another variation on the typical sweet potato pie is the Okinawan sweet potato haupia pie, which is made with purple sweet potatoes, native to the island of Hawaii and believed to have been originally cultivated as early as 500 CE.