Kathmandu:

My friend Kanak Dixit wants to write the history of the effect of the potato on Nepal and my friend and assistant Rajan Maharjan thought it would be a good time to begin the New Year with potatoes.

Over 2000 years ago, 200 varieties of potatoes were developed by the Aymara Indians on the Titicaca Plateau of The Andean Mountains of South America.

The first Inca Emperor Manco Capac saw to it that the tuber went right through his culture. For example the Incan unit to measure time was related to how long it took to cook a potato to various consistencies. Potatoes were used to divine the truth and predict weather.

It wasn’t until 300 years later that the Spanish invaders to South America found all kinds of new things to eat including tomatoes, peanuts and potatoes.

It took 50 years for potatoes to be planted in European soil but the people were suspicious of them as being poisonous. But it was noticed that Spanish sailors who carried and ate them on their ships didn’t suffer from scurvy.

Independent of the Spanish, Sir Francis Drake introduced potatoes to England but the English thought them to be dangerous and unwholesome.

A writer in 1588 said, “Francis Drake has given some potato seeds to Raleigh. He plants them at his Irish estates but is unimpressed. It is generally agreed that Raleigh’s potatoes are a health hazard leading to consumption, flatulence, and unnatural carnal lust.”

The Scotts refused to eat it because it wasn’t mentioned in the Bible. In other countries potatoes were blamed for starting outbreaks of leprosy and syphilis.

At the end of the 17th century the Irish began to recognise the food value of potatoes and Ireland became the first country in Europe to plant them as a staple food crop.

Around the same time the first permanent potatoes pastures were established in New Hampshire, North America and the vegetables were used as animal fodder.

Frederick The Great of Prussia ordered his people in the mid 18th century to plant and eat potatoes as a deterrent to famine. The people’s fear of poisoning led Frederick to enforce his orders by threatening to cut off the nose and ears of those who refused. The Prussians delighted in them and till today potatoes are a basic part of Prussian food.

………… and in so to 1778 when a writer says of France, “A young French agriculturist and chemist, Antoine Augustin Parmentier, has made it his mission to popularise the potato after his experience as prisoner of war in Prussia where potatoes were part of his diet. He is writing books and pamphlets to dispel the beliefs of many that potatoes cause leprosy and fevers and has even persuaded the queen, Marie Antoinette to wear potato flowers to ornament her dress. Parmentier is achieving his goals, potato dishes are being created in great variety and potato has become a delicacy enjoyed by the nobility.”

From then on potatoes became popular and delicious. Thomas Jefferson introduced to American, the joys of fried potatoes describing them as potatoes cooked in the French manner. Belgian street vendors sold thin fried potatoes called Belgian frits from pushcarts, which the French called French fries.

A chef called Crum invented the potatoes crunchies or wafer thin potatoes so popular today under brand names like Pringles, which come in different flavours. The first commercial crisps were Carter crisps.

The potato rules the world and one wonders how we lived without it for over of 1000 years. Over to Kanak Dixit.