The Inspiring and Painful History of the Potato
AdamGottschalk of OTR Food & History explained the long, mysterious, inspiring and painful history behind the common everyday potato.
No matter where you are, it probably hasn't been long since you've had something madewith potato.... In fact, across the entire world,we eat a 3 billion of them every single day. But where do they come from? Who first hadthe idea to pull this out of the ground and turn it into dinner? And how did they end up in the cuisine of every corner of the planet?
He started with ancient Peruvian people, who somehow understood how to breed the poison out of wild potatoes, to Asia, where the potato helped avert a famine, to continental Europe, where the potato was subject to religious fear and superstition, to India, where it became a staple, and to France, where it was incorporated into famous recipes of French cuisine.
He also talked about how Ireland became the perfect climate for growing potatoes and learned to rely upon the copious harvests despite British rule. That is until a tiny microbe created one of the most fearsome famines ever.
With cargo ships speeding back and forth to Europe and on one of those ships, well therewas something else hitching a ride as well. It was a microorganism with the scientific name ofPhytophthora infestans, in Latin translating to, more or less, the destroyer of plants.Especially nightshades, like potatoes. ...Within two months of the first reportsof P. infestans on Irish soil more thanhalf a million acres of farmland had beenlost, and it would continue to progressuntil the country was left almost barren.
The potato eventually made its way across the pond, where during a time of incredible political and sociological change, the potato was adopted and adapted for fancy cuisine and fast food alike.
Since the first time they caught a ride on a Spanish ship from Peru, potatoes have taken the world on a wild journey. Feared as the work of the devil", hailed as the answer to starvation and cooked into a thousand different recipes...
