March 2, 2017
Just Saying…
By Q.C. Jones
Ode to the Potato – Just in time for March.
Ah, the lowly potato. No matter how you slice it, French fries, American fries, cottage fries and other variations join the potato chip in food lexicon. Further, the potato has been honored with the U.N. Sponsored 2008 Year of the Potato. A quick trip to any Quad Cities farmers market is sure to feature obscure and strangely colored potatoes. Similarly, my last visit to the neighborhood grocery revealed four varieties of potato there for the picking. My guess is this, with the exception of your granny’s secret recipe for mashed potatoes, most of us know darn little about this magnificent food. And now, paraphrasing a favorite radio personality of my youth, you are about to hear the rest of the story.
My guess is you’ve never heard of Inca Fries. But research indicates the mighty Inca Empire was built on this plant. South Americans in Bolivia and Peru began cultivating the plant sometime 7-10,000 years ago, which should have given them plenty of time to perfect a pretty darn good potato pancake recipe. But, none of my research turned up with an ancient recipe. This may have something to do with the Incan’s lack of a written language. By the time Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizarro arrived on the outskirts of the Incan Empire, potatoes were widely used as a food source.
Contrary to stories of the Spanish being interested in nothing but gold and silver, they were also on the lookout for a new ingredient in their tapas. To illustrate, the top selling tapa in Spain is the Spanish Omelet, which is mostly eggs, potatoes, salt and a few other spices. But back to the potato story.
The Spanish brought potatoes back to Europe in the second half of the 16th Century. They quickly became a staple of the Old World diet. According to conservative estimates, the introduction of the potato was responsible for a quarter of the growth in Old World population and urbanization between 1700 and 1900. In fact, some people claim the crop was mostly responsible for the European population growth in the 1800s. Pretty cool, but there was an issue.Because of the unique methodology for cultivating potatoes, which is mostly done via cloning (where a small piece of the potato is planted and produces a new plant with the same genetics as the parent). This lack of genetic diversity left the crop vulnerable to disease. In 1845, disaster struck. A plant disease known as late blight, caused by a
fungus-like organism called an oomycete spread rapidly through the poorer communities of western Ireland, resulting in the crop failures that led to the much talked about Great Irish Famine.
Here’s the scoop on why the famine hit Ireland with such ferocity. Ireland was in turmoil. Catholic families were subject to some draconian laws limiting where they lived and how they lived. Most were stuck on 4-5 acre subsistence farms which could not produce enough “regular” crops to sustain them. The only crop capable of sustaining a family was the new miracle food – the potato. And, it became main food source. When the potato crop failed (multiple years 1845-52) across Europe, it had an impact everywhere but a devastating impact in Ireland.
During the Irish Famine, over a million people died and a million more emigrated Ireland. The Irish scattered throughout the world. Further setting the record straight, many of them arrived on what was known as a “coffin ship” where crowded conditions met lack of food and produced death and disease. It was a terrible story but without this torment, we would most likely not have the millions of folks claiming Irish heritage in the Good Ole QCA.
Back to potatoes… the blight taught mankind a lesson. New varieties of potatoes were less susceptible to disease. And highly selective breeding techniques have produced something like 5,000 varieties. Not to limit ourselves to the white starchy variety QC Jones likes with his steak, potatoes come in a rainbow of colors; purple, orange, yellow, red and even more. And they continue to play an important role in the development of mankind.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports the world production of potatoes in 2013 (last number found) was about 368 million tons. Just over two thirds of the global production is eaten directly by humans. This means that the annual diet of an average person in the first decade of the 21st century included over 70 pounds of potato. It’s still an essential crop in Europe, where per capita production is still the highest. But since of 2007, China has led the world in potato growing.
Hale to thee Mr. Potato Head. The Scandinavians are still cranking out potato vodka. McDonalds is selling nine million pounds of French fries daily. And, one of my friends gets 100 percent of their daily dose of vitamins by way of potato chips. Here’s the reasoning (from www.itsnotaboutnutrician.com):
“If you’re after nutrition, go for the potato chips first. True, Lay’s Classic Potato Chips have slightly more calories, fat and sodium than the other choices, but they also have more of the good stuff: Vitamin E, C, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Magnesium, and Potassium.”
March 14th is National Potato Chip Day. Join QC Jones in celebrating the potato. And, for the record, Iowa isn’t the Potato State, but we could be.
Just Saying….
