That's weird.
I thought potatoes were introduced to Europe from *here*.
That's weird.,
I thought potatoes were introduced to Europe from *here*.
The potato, too, is a member of the nightshade family and, if Alton Brown and his Nutritional Anthropoligst are to be believed, most of Europe didn't want much to do with it because of that. I wonder, sometimes, how mankind survived after all these crazy attempts at sticking things in our mouths (hey look, berries! Hey, look, I dry this leaf out, roll it up, light it on fire and suck on it! hey, look, 'schrooms!).
I'm suprised he hasn't used this research as an opporunity to tell Wolf Blitzer that his family took initiative in creating the potato...
Stupid nonsense. The potato was a new world plant. No European 'introduced' it to America.
"Potatoes originated in the Andes mountains of Peru and Bolivia and have been cultivated for at least 2400 years...
Potatoes were introduced into Europe in the sixteenth century after the conquest of Peru by the Spanish. Cultivation spread quickly throughout Europe, but the first large-scale production was in Ireland. The Irish quickly became dependent on potatoes as a staple of their diet. This dependence resulted in mass starvation and emigration when late blight, Phytophthera infestans, destroyed the Irish potato crop for two years in a row in the 1840's. In colonial times, potatoes were introduced to North America by Irish immigrants, which is why they are sometimes called 'Irish' potatoes. More properly they should simply be called 'potatoes' or 'white potatoes' to distinguish them from sweetpotatoes."
From the Land of the Incas to Europe to Ireland to New England; a roundabout journey indeed. I got acquainted with the story when I saw the 1993 "Seeds of Change: Cultural Exchange after 1492" exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.