Cheng Yi potato is also potato failure.

"Potato" as an ingredient has always been one of the representatives of cheap and sufficient quantities, mashed potatoes, French fries, stewed beef with potatoes. All kinds of dishes made from potatoes are delicious in the eyes of most people. But you may not expect that potatoes have been widely grown all over the world in the last 500 years.

My favorite delicious mashed potatoes. Picture: modernmagazin.com

Potatoes are native to South America and are generally believed to come from the Andes of South America from Peru to the extreme northwest of Bolivia. In the first half of the 16th century, Spanish colonists saw potatoes grown by villagers in villages in the Andes and routinely brought them back to Europe.

Ireland, success is potato, failure is potato.

At that time, potatoes newly arrived in Europe were not as popular as they are today. Its starch content is too high. As a result, most simple cooking methods cannot improve its "simple taste of starch". People in the upper class have all kinds of food to choose from, but they can't get up to like this kind of foreign product with little taste. But potatoes are easy to grow, easy to eat, and rich in nutrients, so they are an excellent food crop for the lower class.

The poisonous alkaloid (mainly solanine) content around the sprouting potato bud eye and the place where the light turns green is high, and it will not be decomposed by heating, so eating such potatoes is easy to be poisoned. Picture: Donna / wiki commons

In 1565, potatoes spread to Ireland. In Ireland, where traditional crops were seriously damaged by the war, potato, a new crop buried deep underground, survived the war safely and then came to the Irish table in the form of disaster relief food and quickly became a favorite crop of the Irish people.

Since the 17th century, the Irish ate almost exclusively potatoes, a readily available and nutritious food that contributed to the rapid growth and doubling of the lower population of Ireland. But the crisis is also in it.

Eat potatoes partially buried in the ground. Picture: IrieWrites / WordPress.com

Potatoes that rely on tubers for asexual reproduction have extremely low genetic diversity and low resistance to disease, which led to several potato production reductions and intermittent small-scale famines in Ireland in the 18th century. In 1846, a large-scale potato late blight broke out, which occurred on potatoes as well as directly on the Irish. The severe famine caused a sharp decline in the population of Ireland. Ireland, which had a population of 8 million before the disaster, was devastated, although today Ireland has the highest birth rate of any country in the European Union, with a total population of only 4.77 million.

Europe: refurbished Potato Cooking

Today, potatoes are no longer the exclusive food rations for the "lower classes" in Europe. With the vigorous promotion, the potato has gained a sufficient mass base, and the cooking style has also begun to be renovated. Let's take French food for example, the position of potatoes is unshakable, while Russians use potatoes in the brewing of vodka.

Baked potato (Gratin Dauphinois) in a French meal. Picture: Albert Bartlett

Potato is a common vodka brewing staple. Picture: 2beerguys.com

Germans have a variety of fancy potatoes to eat. A 2016 German diet survey shows that potato dishes are now second only to spaghetti in Germany and are considered a favorite by 18% of Germans. No wonder European countries jokingly call Germany a "potato country".

German one-pot stew (Eintopf) based on potatoes. Picture: Julia Hoersch / Essen & Trinken

A few days ago, Weibo said that the German national football team had brought 300kg potatoes to Russia for the World Cup, which was probably a joke. (otherwise, are the Germans worried that Russian potatoes are being used as vodka by the fighting nation? )

Photo: Sina Weibo

North America: French fries and chips

After talking about Europe, let's take a look at North America. Potatoes originally from South America entered North America much later than expected.

It is generally believed that potatoes were not officially introduced into North America until the 17th century, and large-scale cultivation in the United States was a trend caused by Franklin at the end of the 18th century.

French fries are standard for today's fast food. Picture: Petr Kratochvil

The popularity of French fries was due to the fact that Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States in the 19th century, entertained guests with French fries at the White House (1802), and this method of cooking quickly became the mainstream of potato practice across the United States. As for potato chips, which are also common today, they are thought to have originated from a surprise in 1853.

It is said that potato chips came from a joke made by the cook. Picture: Glane23 / wiki commons

China: from wealthy families to ordinary families

Today, potato is also an important food crop in China, mainly eaten as a vegetable.

For example, Sautéed Potato, Green Pepper and Eggplant, a famous northeast dish with a collection of eggplant bosses. Picture: avlxyz / flickr

It is generally believed that it was first introduced in the 16th century and has been used as a "high-end food" for dignitaries for a long time. Until the Ming and Qing dynasties, the potato planting method was introduced into the folk, coupled with the improvement of planting technology to double the yield, the potato entered the homes of ordinary people. It was not until the spread of potato cultivation during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty that the potato really took root in China after more than 300 years of twists and turns.

In 2016, China's potato output exceeded 1/4 of the world's output, with the red line being the world's potato output and the blue line being China's. Photo: food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Potatoes that conquer the world

Potatoes spread all over the world from South America along major shipping routes. Although it did not win the favor of people everywhere when it first arrived, its tuber grew silently in the ground, and finally became a popular choice because it was "easy to grow and nutritious". This story is repeated all over the world.

Vincent Van Gogh created the Potato Eater in 1885. Picture: American public domain

Its simple flavor is so simple that it has almost no special flavor, is easy to season, and can be cooked in almost any way, which eventually makes the potato an important part of the world's top wine and food.

What is your most delicious way to eat potatoes? Picture: Pixabay

The seemingly ordinary "potato" came out of the ground in hundreds of years, conquering the people of the world who were originally dismissive of it, from the mouth, to the stomach, to the heart.

This is the 172nd article in the fourth year of the species calendar, from the author of the species calendar @ ArcherEmiya.