From starchy staple and savory side dish to children’s toy and miraculous home remedy, the potato is a highly valued vegetable. In fact, according to surveys, the potato is the most popular vegetable in the world. So let’s take a look at some of the ways the potato has played a role in our culture and in our collective history.
Potatoes have been cultivated for thousands of years and are grown across the globe. The tuberous root vegetable is one of the few crops that can be grown in almost any climate, making it a staple product for many cultures. Today there are over 4,500 varieties of potatoes available worldwide, with varying tastes, textures, and colors – even purple potatoes, which are native to Peru and Bolivia.
Potatoes are low in fat and calories and high in nutrients such as potassium (which helps regulate blood pressure), vitamin C (an antioxidant), and fiber, which can help lower cholesterol levels. Potatoes are also an excellent source of vitamin B6, a nutrient that helps keep the nervous system healthy by producing serotonin and norepinephrine hormones that regulate moods.
As such an important staple, a monumental crop failure wreaked havoc in Ireland in the mid-1800s. Between 1845 and 1852, Ireland suffered a period of starvation, disease, and emigration because the potato crop, upon which one-third of Ireland’s population was dependent for food, was infected by a disease that destroyed the crop. The Irish Potato Famine constituted a historical social crisis that had a major impact on Irish society and history as a whole.
In another sphere, Vincent van Gogh paid homage to the harsh reality of country life in his 1885 painting The Potato Eaters. It is an 82 cm. x 114 cm. oil on canvas that the artist created in Nuenen, Netherlands. The Potato Eaters was Van Gogh’s first masterpiece. With this painting, he wanted to establish himself as a painter of peasant life. His portrayal of a family sitting around a table sharing a simple meal of potatoes has become one of the most iconic artworks in history. The painting is now housed in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
While the value of The Potato Eaters is immeasurable in terms of its artistic significance, it is considered priceless and not available for sale. However, some experts estimate its theoretical value to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, given the importance of the painting in art history.
While Van Gogh applied his skills to the potato using his paint palette, cooks worldwide have been dabbling with potatoes to appeal to the taste palate. For example, French fries, have existed for centuries but became popular in the United States in the early 1900s. Available in almost every country, there are regional differences in how they are prepared and served.
Potato salad, shepherd's pie, and more
Another classic is potato salad. In the early 1800s, German immigrants brought their recipes for potato salad to the US. Since then, it has become a popular food item across America.
As for potato chips, well, therein lies a tale. A legend associates the creation of potato chips with Saratoga Springs, New York. According to the story, on August 24, 1853, a cook at Moon’s Lake House named George Crum was trying to appease an unhappy customer.
The customer kept sending back his French-fried potatoes, complaining that they were too thick, too soggy, or not salted enough. Frustrated, Crum sliced several potatoes extremely thin, fried them to a crisp, and seasoned them with extra salt. To his surprise, the customer loved them. They soon came to be called Saratoga Chips. The brand exists to this day, in the crunchy company of hundreds of other brands of potato chips that followed suit.
A popular main dish featuring potatoes is shepherd’s pie. The traditional shepherd’s pie is made with a mixture of minced lamb and beef, vegetables, topped with creamy mashed potato, and baked. Originating from Ireland and the northern parts of England, it is believed that the peasant housewives created the dish as an easy way to use leftovers from their Sunday roast. It is called shepherd’s pie because shepherds herded sheep, and the textured mashed potato topping resembles a lamb’s woolly fleece.
Mashed potatoes took on another dimension when they entered the realm of dace. The Mashed Potato emerged during the golden era of dance crazes in the early 1960s. James Brown’s hit song “Do the Mashed Potatoes” played a pivotal role in popularizing the dance. Known as the Godfather of Soul, James Brown not only provided the soundtrack but also demonstrated the dance on stage.
His charisma and dynamic style added a layer of excitement that fueled the dance’s widespread adoption. The dance involves a series of imaginative steps that mimic the actions of mashing potatoes. Dancers would pretend to peel, mash, and stir an imaginary pot of potatoes, injecting humor and creativity into their performances. The Mashed Potato symbolized the carefree spirit of an era, a time when dances weren’t just about technical prowess but also about expression and enjoyment.
Potatoes lent another level of enjoyment in the form of the children’s toy Mr. Potato Head. Invented and manufactured in the US by George Lerner in 1949, Mr. Potato Head was first distributed by Hasbro in 1952. It consists of a plastic model of a potato “head” to which a variety of plastic parts can be attached, such as eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hat, pants, and shoes. Mr. Potato Head was the first toy advertised on television. The ad campaign was also the first to be aimed directly at children; before that, commercials were targeted at adults, including toy advertisements. The ad revolutionized marketing and created an industrial boom. In its first year, over one million Mr. Potato Head kits were sold.
And, of course, the prolific potato has entered our lexicon as well. The expression “small potatoes,” which appeared in North America in the mid-19th century, means that something is unimportant in comparison with something else.
Meanwhile, a “hot potato” is a controversial issue or situation that is awkward or unpleasant to deal with. The term, dating from the mid-1800s, references the slightly older expression “drop like a hot potato,” meaning to abandon something or someone quickly, lest one be burned. The idiom alludes to the fact that cooked potatoes retain considerable heat because they contain a lot of water.
A “couch potato” refers to a lazy and inactive person, especially one who spends a great deal of time watching television. In the 1980s, American cartoonist Robert Armstrong trademarked the term and used it in cartoons that featured a potato character sitting on a sofa watching TV.
And, glued to another kind of screen, a “mouse potato” describes a person who spends a lot of time using the computer and doesn’t have an active way of life:
And speaking of terminology, why are potatoes called spuds? According to sources, a spud was a sharp, narrow spade that was used to dig up large rooted plants, especially potatoes. In the mid-19th century, the word changed from the tool that was used to dig, to denote the potato itself that was dug up.
In French, potatoes are called pommes de terre, which means “apples of the earth.” Similarly, in Hebrew potatoes are called tapuchei adama, which has the same meaning.
From a practical perspective, the potato can play a number of roles as well. For example, if there is too much salt in a soup or a stew, a potato added to the pot while the dish is cooking will absorb the excess NaCl. And to peel onions without shedding tears, run the knife through a thick raw potato before beginning to peel the onions. Repeat if the effectiveness begins to wane
Saving the best for last, one of the most phenomenal properties of the potato is its natural healing ability, to which I cam personally attest. I recently had a long bout of coughing, with constant congestion. Upon the recommendation of a friend from the FSU, I tried an age-old Russian home remedy that she told me about. All you do is this: In a pot, boil several unpeeled potatoes. When the potatoes are soft (after about 20 minutes), turn off the heat and drain out the water. Then lean over the pot and inhale, through your mouth, the steam from the boiled potatoes. It worked like a charm. After just one session, shall we call it, I was able to breathe deeply and freely. It turns out that potato skins have a natural decongestant property. How amazing is that?
In summation, it all boils down to this: No matter what you call it or how you slice it, this versatile vegetable is veritably the salt of the earth.■