The Mighty Potato

George Larach
12/18/18
GPHC
The Mighty Potato
I have had multiple conversations with my friends on what was the most influential or important food to affect humanity, and common names that were brought up were “bread” or “apples”. I always thought the potato was the most important food, and this article only confirmed my belief. From feeding all of Europe for hundreds of years to being able to vary in size and taste depending on how it’s cooked, the potato is certainly the most important food on the planet. The article talks about how it boosted populations, fed cities, and provided necessary nutritional elements. However, it also increased the amount of conflict between states, considering how people were spending less time hunting and more time recreationally, or doing things they wanted to do. The question was what was the most influential, not what was the best. It’s funny to imagine that thousands of years ago, we were making the change from nomadic hunter-gatherers to farming settlers, and only hundreds of years ago we saw that exact change again, this time having an arguably much wider political and sociological impact. Potatoes are extremely versatile, with almost every major food or dish incorporating at least some component of potatoes. They can be baked, mashed, pancaked, fried, chipped, and much more. The effect potatoes had on change in the world were astounding. It would not be crazy to imagine a world without potatoes would be completely different to the world we live in today.

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