In the old children’s chanting game, players stand in a circle holding their hands in fists to represent potatoes. The rhyme “One potato, two potato, three potato, four. Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more.” is recited while counting the potato-fists. The exact words and the specific rules seem to vary but, somehow, a winner is chosen.
It’s rather surprising the humble potato has its own children’s chanting game but, then again, no other vegetable has reached the level of global importance and widespread reliance that the potato has. “Potatoes are eaten by more than one billion people around the world and are a vital food source … [meaning] about two-thirds of the world’s population includes potatoes as an element in their diet.”
“As the third most available food crop globally, potatoes contribute to the food security, livelihoods and employment of people in rural and urban areas the world over” reports the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in their Guide to the International Day of Potato 2024.
May 30, 2024 was the first-ever International Day of Potato―an observance designed to “underscore the importance of the crop in combating hunger and poverty and addressing environmental threats to agrifood systems”. Although I missed celebrating the first International Day of Potato, I recently had the opportunity to visit The Canadian Potato Museum in O’Leary, Prince Edward Island.
The Museum offers farm tours during the season and we were lucky to catch one of the last tours of the year. It turned out to be ideal timing because we had a terrific guide (Thank you Eric!) who escorted us to a few local potato farms to observe the potato harvest.
But before I share photos of the potato fields at harvest time, let’s take a look at them early in the season. The below photo, taken at Hostetter’s Viewscape PEI, focuses on the lupines blooming in the foreground but hilled rows with newly emerged potato plants are visible in the background.
The United Potato Growers of Canada website provides this explanation of the first stage of growth―sprout development: “After the seed potato or piece is planted, the piece provides nourishment for a sprout or seedling to grow. The eyes of the potato develop sprouts. The sprouts grow and emerge from the soil. Depending on the climate, shoots and stems rise from the ground two to six weeks after planting. A main stem and the first leaves begin to grow. The root system develops quickly and begins to absorb nutrients as the starch in the seed piece gets used up.”
During the next stage of growth ―vegetative growth and photosynthesis―“The leafy part of the plant puts on a lot of growth over four or five weeks. With proper sunlight, photosynthesis begins in the leaves and stems above ground. Excess energy is channeled downward as stolons (underground stems or “tubers”) develop. These tubers develop above the original seed piece, not below it. The tubers grow out from the entire length of the underground stem, starting at the bottom to the uppermost section of the buried stem-the short underground stems (what we call potatoes) store nutrients. Soon, the plant’s main stem will stop growing and produce a flower bud.”
Here we see a field near Augustine Cove, PEI covered in rows and rows of healthy potato plants.
Small, white potato blossoms were visible on some of the plants.
There was a striking contrast between the lush green fields of the early season and the potato fields we saw in mid-October. The potatoes have gone through the tuber growth and tuber bulking stages and reached the maturation stage―“As starch is stored in the tubers underground, the tubers enlarge and reach full size. The outside layer of the tuber gets tougher and tougher, keeping moisture within the potato. As the tuber skins harden, the leaves and stems above ground dry out and die. Potatoes can remain underground for a while after the tops begin to die, so the last energy in the foliage is transferred to the tubers. When the top of the plant dries out and yellows, tubers are ready for harvesting.”
This photo, taken near Kingston PEI, shows potato plants with dry and yellow tops suggesting they are ready to be harvested.
In fact, potato growers were busy harvesting their crops all over the Island. As the Prince Edward Island Potato Board announced in past press releases “Harvest time has arrived for Prince Edward Island potato farmers! It’s a busy and exciting time of year, when farmers put in long hours to harvest their crop after working hard throughout the growing season to nurture and protect their world famous PEI Potatoes. … This fall, Island motorists are reminded to watch for slow moving farm vehicles at this busy time of year. Large harvesting equipment and trucks will be moving to and from fields across the Island. We ask motorists to be patient when coming across farm equipment on Island highways and to ensure that it is safe before passing large harvesters, tractors and trucks.”
There were, indeed, over-sized and slow-moving farm vehicles visible on the roads and in the fields.
Shown below is a harvester (on the left) digging potatoes and loading them into a specially-designed potato truck (on the right). The inset shows the actual potatoes on the conveyor belt.
Here’s a different farmer on a different field―the equipment is similar but viewed from the other side. Notice the mound of potatoes in the truck.
The potatoes are trucked to a farm or processing center where they are unloaded, processed and stored. Here a truck-load of potatoes awaits processing. Notice the built-in chute and conveyor belt at the back of the truck.
During our farm tour, we were able to visit Smallwood Farms where we walked through the processing areas, …
… stood in the storage barns surrounded by mountains of potatoes, …
… marveled at the complex harvesting equipment (like the windrower and harvester shown below) and chatted with the actual farmers! (Many thanks to the folks at Smallwood Farms!)
After our tour, we returned to the Museum for a delicious lunch at their restaurant, the PEI Potato Country Kitchen. Their menu offers a wide variety of choices all featuring potatoes, of course! There were baked potatoes, fresh-cut fries, poutine, homemade chips, potato soup, potato skins, and sandwiches. The sandwiches, it turns out, are made with their signature potato bread which is also available by the loaf as shown on the Museum’s Facebook post below.
Interestingly, potato bread plays an unexpected, pivotal role in the potato’s history… read on for the connection.
The Canadian Potato Museum tells the story of the potato in professionally-curated exhibits which are both entertaining and educational. They begin by explaining the potato originated in South America.
“The Aymara [people], who live near Lake Titicaca have been cultivating potatoes for over 5000 years.” Lake Titicaca is located in the Andes mountains on the border of modern-day Bolivia and Peru. “Here, according to legend, the Sun God created the first Incas.” “The ancestors of the Aymara” elaborates Wikipedia “lived in the region for many centuries before becoming a subject people of the Inca Empire in the late 15th or early 16th century”.
“Potatoes were a vital part of Inca diet and culture and, by the time of the Spanish conquest in 1532, the Incas had terraced vast mountainside areas for the production of maize and potatoes. … Lured by tales of realms of gold and silver and sustained by a sense of divine mission, the Spanish conquistadors of the 16th century crossed the western seas to seize riches and convert the heathen. However, history has demonstrated that the real treasure that the Spaniards appropriated from South America was the lowly potato.”
As noted in the exhibit pictured below, “This is what the potato may have looked like when first introduced to Europe. From its appearance, it is easy to see how it could have been confused with other tubers and root vegetables such as the Jerusalem artichoke and the sweet potato.”
The potato was not, however, accepted immediately―it was viewed with suspicion nearly everywhere it was introduced. It’s hard to imagine there was a time when people would rather starve than eat potatoes. But, in Europe, potatoes were first used as fodder for pigs and cattle and it was feared they were poisonous to humans. People also distrusted a plant that grew underground associating it with the “underworld” of hell and the devil giving them the deprecating nickname of “the devil’s apples”.
The general suspicion and animosity, however, were eventually overcome out of necessity. At the time, “Europe depended on grain crops for its staple foods. Highly vulnerable to weather conditions, these crops often failed, and the bad harvests were followed by famine. In addition, the common people suffered food shortages each time European states engaged in one of their frequent wars. Both intellectuals and royalty, concerned about unrest caused by hunger, soon recognized the value of the potato as a food supply for the masses.” explains the Museum exhibits.
In Prussia, for instance, “Frederick the Great (1712-1786) made the cultivation of potatoes compulsory. Following the example of his father, Frederich Wilhelm I of Prussia (shown below), Frederick the Great decreed severe penalties for failure to comply. (His father had ordered the peasants to plant potatoes or have their noses and ears cut off.) It was not the influence of such dire penalties, but the famine caused by the Seven Years’ War, that ultimately caused the potato culture to flourish in Germany.”
Perhaps the strongest rejection came from modern-day France, where “in 1619, potatoes were banned in Burgundy for causing leprosy. This misconception stemmed from the ancient principle called the ‘Doctrine of Signatures’ in which people believed that ‘like cures or affects like.’ The rough, scabby surface of the potato led people to believe that it caused leprosy and scrofula, a myth that continued into the 1700s.”
Reversing this mindset became the lifework of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier who worked tirelessly to find alternative vegetables to replace the traditional food staples that failed to sufficiently feed the French. He is commonly known as the “inventor of the potato” in France for his eventual success in having the potato accepted as a food staple. Parmentier was much more than that, though, as explained by the Interuniversity Health Library virtual exhibition. Parmentier was a “military pharmacist, great servant of the State, and an immense scholar … who devoted fifty years of his life to fighting to improve the living conditions of the French”.
In February 1757, early in the Seven Years’ War, Parmentier is assigned “to the army of Hanover as a 3rd class pharmacist. During an inspection tour of the outposts, Parmentier is captured by an enemy patrol. He will experience five similar misadventures! But the army needs its young apothecary so much that he is systematically the subject of a prisoner exchange.
Alas, during his last expedition, no negotiations took place because rumours of peace were becoming more precise … The unfortunate Antoine-Augustin thus languished for more than two weeks in a dungeon with, for his only distraction, meals which invariably consisted of potato mush. As curious as he was pragmatic, Parmentier took advantage of this unpleasant situation by analysing the behaviour of his body to this mixture …. Over the days, he noted his reactions: his health suffered no deterioration, he did not lose strength and did not feel the slightest fatigue. He deduced from this that potatoes possessed nutritional qualities.
Shortly afterwards, the prisoner of war was sent on parole to … a renowned apothecary in Frankfurt, where he continued his experiments with potatoes.”
“As soon as peace was signed, on February 10, 1763, Parmentier rushed back to France” where he continued his studies and collaborated with experts in his field. In 1766, he won the position of major apothecary at the Hôtel Royal des Invalides in Paris.
“Housed at the Invalides, Parmentier leads a double life: during the day, he fulfills his duties as pharmacist of the institution; at night, he devotes himself to his personal research. He has not forgotten the potato that served as his food during his captivity in Germany. He now intends to use it to stem the ten-year famines that are weakening the kingdom and causing riots.”
This memorial statue of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier studying the potato, pictured below, is by French sculptor Adrien Étienne Gaudez.
Eight years later, he surrendered his commission at Hôtel Royal des Invalides due to what appears to have been a political power struggle. “At the same time, at the request of the ministers, Parmentier travelled the kingdom to analyse flour samples or collect grains. Since bread was the staple food of the French, he always sought to make it with substitute flours, to combat famines.”
“On October 29, 1778, Parmentier invited the entire scientific, administrative and military community of Paris to the ovens of the bakery of the Invalides. He had decided to make his bread only with potato flour in public to demonstrate its benefits in times of famine.” Benjamin Franklin was among the luminaries who attended. “Admittedly, the taste result was rather mediocre, but the Journal de Paris reported the event as ‘the most important discovery of the century’. It was an opportunity for Parmentier to publish a huge treatise on the art of making bread, entitled Le Parfait Boulanger” (The Perfect Baker).
Interestingly, this happened in 1778―over 200 years after potatoes were reportedly grown at the Hospital de la Sangre at Seville in southern Spain; nearly 200 years after the potato had been introduced into Ireland; over 100 years after England’s “Royal Society endorsed a pamphlet encouraging the cultivation of the potato for human consumption”; and about 25 years after potatoes were widely planted in North America. Yet, it took Parmentier another 15+ years of lobbying before the Paris Commune (City Government) ordered the planting of potatoes in the Tuileries Garden in 1795. Eventually, potatoes were accepted in France and the rest, as they say, is history.
“Throughout Europe, the most important new food in the 19th century was the potato, which had three major advantages over other foods for the consumer: its lower rate of spoilage, its bulk (which easily satisfied hunger) and its cheapness. The crop slowly spread across Europe, becoming a major staple by mid-century” reports Wikipedia.
“With around 5000 varieties,” reports the FAO “the diversity of potatoes plays a vital role in global food security and nutrition. This range is essential in adapting to different environments and production systems and tackling climate change, as each variety has unique resilience traits.”
The lowly potato has come a long way!
More Info
The Canadian Potato Museum & PEI Potato Country Kitchen are located in O’Leary, Prince Edward Island, Canada. We really enjoyed our visit to the museum, our guided farm tour and potato-based lunch. Check their website for seasonal open hours as well as farm tour availability. Many thanks to Eric Phillips, Donna Rowley and the folks at Smallman Farms for sharing your time and expertise and making it a most enjoyable day!
The following resources were consulted in writing this blog post:
. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) website including their Guide to the International Day of Potato 2024.
. United Potato Growers of Canada website
. Prince Edward Island Potato Board website
. Various Wikipedia subject entries
. Interuniversity Health Library virtual exhibition on Antoine-Augustin Parmentier.
Today’s Takeaways
1. It’s hard to imagine there was a time when people would rather starve than eat potatoes.
2. “As the third most available food crop globally, after rice and wheat, potatoes are a staple in the diets of billions.” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
3. Consider adding a reminder on your calendar to celebrate the next International Day of Potato on May 30, 2025.
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