Potatoes
- Thread starter sealboy6
- Start date
Adler17
Prussian Feldmarschall
The first potatoes came to Europe shortly after Columbus discoverd America. IIRC Columbus himself brought some potatoes with him. However it remained an exotic cropse. Nobody really interested in that. There were a few attempts to grow them in Europe but all failed. We do have the saying here in Germany: What the farmer does no know he doesn´t eat (Wat de Bur nit kennt, dat fritt er nich).
So it lasted until 1756 when Frederic the Great ordered the farmers to use potatoes. He also used soldiers to guard the fields. And with his orders he could break the resistance and soon his farmers were keen on growing this cropse. So Frederic was the first to grow potatoes in Europe and reduced the danger of famine in his lands. This spread to all over Germany and then Europe.
That was a short history about the introduction of the potato in Europe.
Adler
So it lasted until 1756 when Frederic the Great ordered the farmers to use potatoes. He also used soldiers to guard the fields. And with his orders he could break the resistance and soon his farmers were keen on growing this cropse. So Frederic was the first to grow potatoes in Europe and reduced the danger of famine in his lands. This spread to all over Germany and then Europe.
That was a short history about the introduction of the potato in Europe.
Adler
sydhe
King of Kongs
From Wikipedia:
"The first European record of the potato came in 1537 from the Spanish conquistador Castellanos, who discovered the tuber when his group raided a village in South America."
I don't think they could have come with Columbus because they come from the west of South America. He could have picked some up in Colombia, I suppose.
"The first European record of the potato came in 1537 from the Spanish conquistador Castellanos, who discovered the tuber when his group raided a village in South America."
I don't think they could have come with Columbus because they come from the west of South America. He could have picked some up in Colombia, I suppose.
Maccabee
Rebuilder of Walls
Adler17 said:
Well then, if Frederick the Great is responsible for the first widespread and successful planting of potatoes outside the Americas, and the French would have nothing to do with them, then Frederick should get the credit for most if not all modern, western dishes made from potatoes.
Therefore, it would be most illogical to call them French fries. For now on, I will call them.....Freddy Fries!
Ah, but only Americans call them "French fries", the "French" being a name for that style of cutting vegetables. There was never any claim that the French had actually invented them. I think it's just a coincidence that the people who eat them most today are the Belgians.
And they should, of course, be called chips!
And they should, of course, be called chips!
Che Guava
The Juicy Revolutionary
What I'd like to know is when european plant breeders came up with the potato we know today. IIRC, wild potatoes (and those that the native south americans cultivated) had purple/blue flesh and looked more like these:
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