One Potato, Two Potato: The Story of America’s Favorite Vegetable
Potatoes have become one of America's favorite vegetables. We get to the roots of the potato, where it came from, and how it made its way onto our plates, and into our hearts.
There may be no vegetable that has changed the world more than the potato. It has fed empires, destroyed empires, and pulled millions across oceans. The journey from Andean staple to American comfort food took about 500 years and passed through war, famine, royal dinners, scientific feuds, and a Frenchman with a marketing genius for armed potato guards. Here is the long story, short.
Quick Reference
- Where it started: the high Andes of present-day Peru and Bolivia, where wild potatoes were domesticated 7,000-10,000 years ago.
- Crossed the Atlantic: Spanish conquistadors carried potatoes back to Europe in the mid-1500s.
- European resistance: several European countries banned or shunned the potato for two centuries, fearing leprosy and the unfamiliar.
- The Irish Potato Famine: 1845-1852. A late-blight outbreak destroyed Ireland’s potato crop. Over 1 million died, another million emigrated.
- U.S. arrival: brought to the colonies in the early 1600s. Russet Burbank, the modern French-fry potato, was developed by Luther Burbank in 1872.
- American consumption: the average American eats about 110 pounds of potatoes per year, more than any other vegetable.
The Andean Origin
The potato was domesticated in the high Andes of present-day Peru and Bolivia between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago. The Inca, the Tiwanaku, and the cultures that came before them grew dozens of native varieties suited to elevations from 12,000 to 14,000 feet, where almost nothing else grew. The Inca freeze-dried potatoes by spreading them on cold mountainsides at night and then trampling them at sunrise to push out the moisture. The result, chuño, kept for years. It fed armies and built the Inca Empire.
Today, more than 4,000 native potato varieties still grow in the Peruvian Andes. The genetic library they represent is the foundation of every modern potato cultivar. The International Potato Center in Lima maintains the seed bank.
The Columbian Exchange
Spanish conquistadors landed in Peru in the early 1530s, looted Inca gold, and (almost as an afterthought) packed potatoes onto ships heading back to Europe. The first crops arrived in Spain by 1570. From there, potatoes spread slowly across Europe: Italy, then Germany, then the Low Countries. The British carried them to Ireland. The French held out longest.
The European Resistance
Europe did not want the potato. The reasons varied by country. France believed potatoes caused leprosy and banned them outright in 1748. Italian and Spanish farmers thought the unfamiliar tuber was “food for the poor.” Northern Europeans worried that anything grown underground was sinful in Catholic doctrine. It took the work of one man, the French pharmacist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, to crack the resistance with a publicity campaign that included royal dinners, potato-flower bouquets for the queen, and a guarded patch at Sablons designed to make the tuber look stealable. By 1772, France had repealed the potato ban. By 1794, potatoes were officially “food for the revolutionaries.”
The Irish Potato Famine
In Ireland, the potato had become the staple food of the rural poor by the 1700s. A single acre of potatoes could feed a family of five and a pig. By the 1840s, an estimated three million Irish lived almost entirely on potatoes. Then, in 1845, a strain of late-blight fungus (Phytophthora infestans) crossed from North America to Ireland, almost certainly on ships. The first crop failed. The next year, it failed again. By 1852, over one million Irish had died of starvation and disease; another million had emigrated, mostly to the United States and Canada.
The famine reshaped Ireland. It also reshaped the American Northeast, where Irish immigrants poured into Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. The Irish diaspora is in many ways a potato story.
Arrival in the United States
Potatoes arrived in the American colonies in the early 1600s, brought from Bermuda and the Caribbean rather than directly from Europe. Thomas Jefferson grew them at Monticello and is sometimes credited with introducing French fries to the new country (a guest at one of his White House dinners described “potatoes served in the French manner”). German and Irish immigrants in the 1700s and 1800s spread potato cultivation across the colonies, especially Pennsylvania, New York, and what became Idaho.
The single most important American potato breeding moment came in 1872, when Luther Burbank, a young California horticulturist, developed the Russet Burbank potato. The Russet Burbank had higher yield, longer shelf life, and the high starch and low moisture that made it ideal for French fries. McDonald’s standardized on the Russet Burbank when it grew into a chain. Today, the Russet Burbank is the dominant potato variety in U.S. supermarkets and 60 percent of the world’s frozen French fries.
The Modern American Potato
Americans eat an average of 110 pounds of potatoes per year, more than any other vegetable. That breaks down to roughly 50 pounds of fresh potatoes (baked, boiled, mashed), 45 pounds of frozen (mostly French fries and hash browns), and 15 pounds of chips and other processed forms. Idaho produces about a third of the U.S. potato crop; Washington, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Colorado, Maine, and Oregon round out the top growing states.
Maine’s far northern Aroostook County still closes its public schools for “potato recess” each fall, when students help with the harvest, a tradition unchanged in 80 years. For more on Aroostook County and the people growing today’s American crop, see the resources at the Potatoes USA marketing board.
Why the Potato Won
The potato won the American kitchen for the same reasons it eventually won in Europe. It produces more calories per acre than any other crop except sugar cane. It stores well through winter without refrigeration. It is rich in vitamin C, potassium, fiber, and B vitamins. It tastes good with almost any preparation: baked, boiled, mashed, fried, roasted, hashed, scalloped, gratin, soup, salad, gnocchi, latkes, fries. There is barely a global cuisine that has not adopted the potato in some form.
Growing Your Own
Backyard potato growing has come back in a big way since the early 2000s. Seed potatoes (small whole potatoes with sprouting eyes) are planted in early spring after the soil warms. They produce in 75 to 110 days depending on variety. New potatoes (the small, thin-skinned versions) are dug as the plants flower; main-crop potatoes come out at season’s end when the vines die back. Our grow-your-own potato guide walks through every step.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did the potato originate?
In the high Andes of present-day Peru and Bolivia, between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago. The Inca grew dozens of varieties and freeze-dried them as chuño for long-term storage.
Why did Europe resist the potato?
Several reasons. France believed potatoes caused leprosy and banned them in 1748. Italian and Spanish farmers considered them peasant food. Northern Europeans had religious objections to anything grown underground. It took the work of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier to convince France to repeal the ban in 1772.
What caused the Irish Potato Famine?
A strain of late-blight fungus (Phytophthora infestans) crossed from North America to Ireland in 1845 and destroyed the potato crop year after year through 1852. Over a million Irish died and another million emigrated, mostly to the United States.
Who invented the modern French fry potato?
Luther Burbank developed the Russet Burbank potato in 1872. Its high starch, low moisture, and long shelf life made it the perfect French fry potato. Today it is the most-grown potato in the United States and supplies about 60 percent of the world’s frozen fries.
How many potatoes does the average American eat per year?
About 110 pounds, more than any other vegetable. Roughly half is fresh, 40 percent is frozen (mostly fries and hash browns), and 15 pounds is chips and other processed forms.
This article was published by the Staff at FarmersAlmanac.com. Any questions? Contact us at questions@farmersalmananac.com.
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
I want to know how to plant them. So far, i haven’t found that information.
Me either; though I’m looking for harvest info. I live in zone 6. I let the potatoes sprout in the cupboard. Cut them into pieces leaving two sprouts on each piece. I planted them hand deep and watered a few times each week. Once the plant was 10-12 high, I added dirt. Once all the plant stalks came down, I began harvesting. I’m wondering what the consequences are of leaving potatoes in the ground after night temps drop to 20.
I Love potatoes any way they can be eaten. That is something I always buy. Thank you to all the Farmers for the hard work and effort put in to making sure all Americans get to eat. I also would like to give Thanks to all the Truck drivers that deliver this product to our stores and such. I have to have potatoes and meat to survive.
Good article, very informative. Me and all of my family love potatoes. We eat potatoes made in everyway possible!