The Potato, The World’s Most Versatile Food There is no doubt about it; the potato has to be the most versatile food. How many other foods are eaten regularly for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Let’s learn about his cousin of the tomato, eggplant, and pepper. I can’t think of a food product used in so many different ways, mashed, fried, boiled, au gratin, potato chips, and how about even Vodka. They have proven invaluable in feeding the hungry of the world. The potato originated in the Andes Mountains
complicated history than Idaho’s Potato Museum or the Irish Potato Famine. The Incas first cultivated potatoes around 8,000 to 5,000 B.C.--they held the sole key to the thousands of cultivars of potatoes until Spanish Conquistadors invaded Peru in 1536, claimed ownership of the potato, and dispersed them all over Europe in a prolific monoculture. This perennial tuber, Solanum tuberosum, now takes
increasing their profits (Schlosser 116). The potato industry has become an, “oligopsony- a market in which a small number of buyers exerts power over a large number of sellers,” (Schlosser 117). The potato farmers of Idaho face as Schlosser recounts, “pressure to either get bigger- or get out if the business,” (Schlosser 117). “Over the past twenty-five years, Idaho has lost about half of its potato farmers. Today there are roughly 1100 potato farmers left in Idaho- few enough to fit in a high