Let’s get to the root of things

From boiled to baked, creamed to croquettes, there is no denying that the potato is one of our most versatile vegetables.

Today ‘the spud’ is so commonly plentiful that it is taken for granted in the western world. We underestimate its’ low-priced goodness and complimentary presence to innumerable dishes accompanying a vast variety of other foods. Not only can potatoes be stored for a long period of time, they are ridiculously easy to grow thriving in all sorts of adverse conditions around the globe.

While this blog will aim to explore the different ways in which we can eat potatoes it is important to get a sense of where they began and why the potato is the most important non-cereal crop in the world. Where did the vegetable originate? Why does it hold cultural importance to many nations? Why is it significant to our diet? After doing a little background research I can tell you.

Upon my roots, I consider myself a stereotypical Irishman who is rather fond of his spuds, and for this this reason I have chosen to blog the many Irish meals that incorporate the potato. However it wasn’t until I studied ‘The Great Famine’ in high school that I learned the potato is not an Irish native. The Inca Indians of Peru, South America, are recorded to have used potatoes in their cooking as far back as 500 B.C. The year 1565 seen Spanish explorer Gonzalo Jiminez de Quesada take the potato back to Spain, from there taking route to England. At first people were ignorant of how to cook the vegetable, discarding the actual potato and stewing the stem and leaves, causing illness due to their poisonous properties. However, later they learned how to cook it properly but were wary. Mrs Beeton describes within her book Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1861) “that the water in which potatoes are boiled is injurious…avoid it’s use for any alimentary purpose”. Even earlier, what we know today as ‘the chip’ made its golden debut in Alexis Benoit Soyer’s A Shilling Cookery for the People (1854) describing “thin-cut potatoes in oil”.

Although Irish myth says potatoes aboard ships of the Spanish Armada wrecked of the Coast of Ireland were washed ashore, there is evidence that Sir Walter Raleigh brought the vegetable to Ireland in 1589. Raleigh first planted the crop in the Co. Cork and due to its adaptability to Irish terrain became the main food source throughout the country. By the mid-19^th century the potato spread to most parts of the world as a predominant food source (second to dairy products in the western world). Yet ‘The Potato Blight’ of 1845-9 seen mass starvation, death and disease among the Irish due to the failure in the crop. Those who were lucky escaped from the Emerald Isle to far and wide, bringing with them potato recipes to foreign lands.

Today, we Irish still love our potatoes and simple Irish recipes, but we are also able to appreciate how other cultures use spuds in their recipes. In this blog, I will not only share Irish recipes but I will also attempt to cook traditional and cultural recipes from around the globe that incorporate the potato.

Forks at the ready folks!