Las Papas By Julia Ortega

"Las Papas" by Julia Ortega is a story that tries to convey a simple yet a very realistic message. The story tries to reveal the fact that how over the years, as generation changes, we lose touch to our family values, our history as well as our very own culture. Las Papas is a Spanish word for Potatoes. The story is based on a man and his son. The man tries to pass on his family culture and history to his son, which in this story is more of connected to potatoes. Potatoes in this story symbolizes the memories and history of his family and his motherland Peru. This story highlights the fact and difficulties relating to the migration of people from one country to another, the hardships they face to adjust and settle in new place and how over the course of time, in the process of

adapting to the new culture they lose touch with their own culture and homeland. Author very nicely portrays this message by symbolizing potatoes to human. He tries to show the struggle faced by a man - the main character in this story, to pass his history and family values to the next generation - his son.
While the man is cooking food for his son in the kitchen, his son comes in the kitchen to inquire about the dish being cooked. His father informs him that he is cooking a new dish "Chicken cacciatore". His son was not impressed by this answer and after a while came running back to the kitchen. He informed his dad that Chicken is a very boring dish. As soon as his son said that, a past incident came to his mind. He remembered that when he was a child, he had insulted his father's dish saying that it was too spicy. He recollected the time of his childhood, and how he had not been kind to his dad who had put so much efforts in cooking for him. And now when his own son dislikes his cooking, he realizes his mistake and gets carried away in the memories of his past. He feels the pressure and anxiety while thinking of his incomplete story from the past of his relationship with his dad. He thinks of how he had failed to acknowledge his father's small gestures of love and regrets it.
After convincing his son that he will use other different ingredients along with Chicken to make the dish tasty, the son smiled approvingly.

The man then started to work on the ingredients. He washed and dried the potatoes, and even before he realized he was lost in his thoughts. A flowing river of past memories hit him hard. He was thinking about all the different varieties of potatoes that grew in Peru. The potatoes from his country were dark ones, almost royal purple like fruit, and delicate yellow ones, like the yolk of an egg. (Pg -172) Many of which have disappeared forever, he was wondering if they had been less firmly rooted in the soil or were they delicate varieties or maybe they disappeared when control of cultivated lands was deteriorating. Potatoes in Peru were of many different varieties, all of which were not available here, in North America. Similarly, after migration people also find it difficult to adjust in different culture and background. Just like all varieties of potatoes could not survive in the weather of North America, author tries to convey that even humans migrating from different country lose their cultural values in the process of coping up with the new

culture.
Potatoes can be cooked in many different ways. It can be boiled, stewed, baked or fried. He could again relate this thought to a memory from his past. His mother had told him when he was a child "at harvest time, the largest potatoes would be roasted for everybody and, in the fire, they would open up - just like flowers" (pg - 172). He realized that this was the lost variety of potatoes. These thoughts made him realize the fact that how less he was aware about the things that originated and came from his own country, he did not know the history of this vegetable which is widely used throughout the world and in all different cultures.
The aroma of the dish attracted the little fellow back to the kitchen. "Where's this food come from?" the child asked. ( pg -173) The man replied informing him that it is from Peru. The child was surprised and he inquires further to confirm if it was not from Italy. He replied him saying potatoes come from Peru and not Italy. He further explained that the potatoes from Peru are really good and there are all kinds of flavors. Here he tries to pass on information to his son about potatoes and history of Peru.
Finally when he is finished cooking, his son ate the food and complimented him saying the food tastes good. Later on he looked for potato in pantry. He knew that potatoes adapt to different lands, so he went out of his apartment near the tree on a small hill. He dug a hole and buried the potato inside the earth. He wanted to keep alive his history, so he buried this Andean potato which he discovered while cooking in kitchen and thought was a lost variety.
To sum up, while slicing potatoes in the kitchen, the man recollects his past in Peru. He remembers the different varieties of potatoes in Peru and is amazed by how differently it can be used in cooking. Memories of the past comes to his mind, how his dad use to cook potatoes for him and how he used to dislike potatoes because of it being cooked frequently. He does not want his family value and history to disappear like the different varieties of potatoes so he shares his knowledge with his son. Author here tries to symbolize potato with History. He tries to explain with the help of this story that just like lost variety of potato cannot be recovered now, similarly, lost knowledge of our history and time with our family cannot be recovered. He also shoes how the man realized that his cultural values were lost over the time after he migrated from Peru, so he makes sure to keep alive his historical and cultural values by passing them on to his son, which can also be seen in the last part of the story where he buries the lost kind of potato.