One night, the Potato family sat down to dinner – Mother Potato and her three daughters. Midway through the meal, the eldest daughter spoke up. “Mother Potato?” she said. “I have an announcement to make.”
“And what might that be?” said Mother, seeing the obvious excitement in her eldest daughter’s eyes.
“Well,” replied the daughter, with a proud but sheepish grin, “I’m getting married!”
The other daughters squealed with surprise as Mother Potato exclaimed, “Married! That’s wonderful! And who are you marrying, Eldest daughter?”
“I’m marrying a Russet!”
“A Russet!” replied Mother Potato with pride. “Oh, a Russet is a fine tater, a fine tater indeed!”
As the family shared in the eldest daughter’s joy, the middle daughter spoke up. “Mother? I, too, have an announcement.”
“And what might that be?” encouraged Mother Potato.
Not knowing quite how to begin, the middle daughter paused, then said with conviction, “I, too, am getting married!”
“You, too!” Mother Potato said with joy. “That’s wonderful! Twice the good news in one evening! And who are you marrying, Middle Daughter?”
“I’m marrying an Idaho!” beamed the middle daughter.
“An Idaho!” said Mother Potato with joy. “Oh, an Idaho is a fine tater, a fine tater indeed!”
Once again, the room came alive with laughter and excited plan for the future, when the youngest Potato daughter interrupted. “Mother? Mother Potato? Um, I, too, have an announcement to make.”
“Yes?” said Mother Potato with great anticipation.
“Well,” began the youngest Potato daughter with the same sheepish grin as her eldest sister before her, “I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to you, but I am getting married, as well!”
“Really?” said Mother Potato with sincere excitement. “All of my lovely daughters married! What wonderful news! And who, pray tell, are you marrying, Youngest Daughter?”
“I’m marrying Joe Buck!”
“Joe Buck?!” Mother Potato scowled suddenly. “But he’s just a common tater!”
Showing posts with label Potatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Potatoes. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Potato Royale - a PR master class
French royal Marie Antoinette famously promoted the potato during the 18th century, by wearing potato blossoms in her hair. But why?The royals were introduced to the potato by French nutritionist, agronomist and chemist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, who had a penchant for potatoes and a real skill for Public Relations.
Parmentier had served as a army pharmacist during the Seven Years War, and was taken prisoner by the Prussians. During his captivity he was fed only potatoes, at that time a foodstuff only fed to pigs, not humans. Indeed, at that time a 1748 French law was in place explicitly forbidding potato cultivation, chiefly on the grounds that it was believed to cause leprosy.
On his return home Parmentier made it his mission to popularize the tuber, hitherto so dismissed by his countrymen. His first breakthrough came in 1772 when he won a prize from the Académie Besançon for his proposal of potatoes as a source of nourishment for patients suffering from dysentery. As a result of his efforts the Paris Faculty of Medicine then declared potatoes to be edible.A year later, in 1773, Parmentier published his thesis, Inquiry into nourishing vegetables that at times of necessity could be substituted for ordinary food. His growing notoriety gained Parmentier an invitation to the court of King Louis XVI on the occasion of the king's birthday.
Parmentier showed his mastery of public relations by bringing to court a bouquet of potato flowers as a birthday gift. The King graciously accepted the gift, deftly placing one of the flowers in his lapel.
But it was the king's wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, who most sponsored Parmentier's cause by later wearing the potato blossoms in her hair. Potato flowers quickly became a fashion among the aristocracy, just as potatoes were now permitted to, and did, become a staple for the poor.Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Potato Economics - a lesson in alternative currency
A Seattle University professor was forcibly ejected today from a Pike Place Market deli after he attempted to pay for a sandwich with a sack of potatoes.
The professor, Frenchman Francois Cloche-Fin, a native of the Isle Noirmoutier, is an instructor of economics, management and leadership at the Albers School of Business. He was not immediately available for comment.
“We get our fair share of freaks in this neighborhood, no doubt,’ Deli owner Pieter van der Hoogstrand said, “but I had never seen something like this before.”
At approximately 11:45 am Wednesday, Cloche-Fin entered the deli and ordered a Polish Sausage ciabatta with Emmental cheese. When he approached the cash register, he allegedly brought out a potato sack and pulled out two La Bonnotte de Noirmoutier potatoes, placing them neatly on the counter in front of him.
“I said, ‘what the hell is this?’ van der Hoogstrand recalled, “and he said that the sandwich cost $7.50 and so he wanted to pay with 2 potatoes. At first I couldn’t believe it, but the line kept growing so I told him to either give me cash or a card or get out.”
When van der Hoogstrand refused to accept his potatoes, Cloche-Fin allegedly grew agitated. “He kept shouting, ‘How dare you reject my potatoes? This is discrimination! My money is just as good as everyone else’s!’ ”
At that moment, two Pike Place Market Deli employees emerged from the kitchen and removed Cloche-Fin from the premises. As he was leaving, Cloche-Fin reportedly screamed, “You owe me a half-potato in change!”
Speaking to reporters some hours later, all van der Hoogstrand could do was shake his head and laugh. “I guess where he’s from, potatoes are a form of currency. But where does he think he is? We don’t even accept Diners Club here.”
The La Bonnotte potato variety, grown only in Cloche-Fin's native Isle Noirmoutier, is of course one of the most expensive foods in the world. Due to the manual nature of the growing and harvesting of this potato variety, one kilo can fetch us much as $700.
It's quite possible that Mr van der Hoogstrand and the Pike Place Market Deli missed out on a very good deal...
The professor, Frenchman Francois Cloche-Fin, a native of the Isle Noirmoutier, is an instructor of economics, management and leadership at the Albers School of Business. He was not immediately available for comment.
“We get our fair share of freaks in this neighborhood, no doubt,’ Deli owner Pieter van der Hoogstrand said, “but I had never seen something like this before.”
At approximately 11:45 am Wednesday, Cloche-Fin entered the deli and ordered a Polish Sausage ciabatta with Emmental cheese. When he approached the cash register, he allegedly brought out a potato sack and pulled out two La Bonnotte de Noirmoutier potatoes, placing them neatly on the counter in front of him.
“I said, ‘what the hell is this?’ van der Hoogstrand recalled, “and he said that the sandwich cost $7.50 and so he wanted to pay with 2 potatoes. At first I couldn’t believe it, but the line kept growing so I told him to either give me cash or a card or get out.”
When van der Hoogstrand refused to accept his potatoes, Cloche-Fin allegedly grew agitated. “He kept shouting, ‘How dare you reject my potatoes? This is discrimination! My money is just as good as everyone else’s!’ ”
At that moment, two Pike Place Market Deli employees emerged from the kitchen and removed Cloche-Fin from the premises. As he was leaving, Cloche-Fin reportedly screamed, “You owe me a half-potato in change!”
Speaking to reporters some hours later, all van der Hoogstrand could do was shake his head and laugh. “I guess where he’s from, potatoes are a form of currency. But where does he think he is? We don’t even accept Diners Club here.”
The La Bonnotte potato variety, grown only in Cloche-Fin's native Isle Noirmoutier, is of course one of the most expensive foods in the world. Due to the manual nature of the growing and harvesting of this potato variety, one kilo can fetch us much as $700.
It's quite possible that Mr van der Hoogstrand and the Pike Place Market Deli missed out on a very good deal...
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Waxy or floury - what's your potato preference?
With well over 4000 known varieties of potato, there's a lot to choose from, even if only a fraction of those are generally commercially available.
But our friends at Potato Facts want to know what Texture of potato you prefer: waxy or floury?
Take their poll and let us know!
If you don't know the difference, then here's some simple advice:
Key Waxy potatoes: Charlotte, Maris Peer
Key Floury potatoes: King Edward, Maris Piper, Desirée
But our friends at Potato Facts want to know what Texture of potato you prefer: waxy or floury?
Take their poll and let us know!
If you don't know the difference, then here's some simple advice:
Key Waxy potatoes: Charlotte, Maris Peer
Key Floury potatoes: King Edward, Maris Piper, Desirée
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Protuberance? Fingering the sweetness of Shakespeare's potato
Potato fact #1 - There are two references to the potato in the works of Shakespeare. The first in the Merry Wives of Windsor (Act 5, Scene V); the second in Troilus and Cressida (Act 5, Scene II).
This suits as #potatofact #1, as the potato is believed to have been imported into Europe around a century before these two Shakespeare plays were published (1602 and 1609, respectively), but the plant's introduction and spread toward Northern Europe in the intervening period was both relatively unremarked and unremarkable.
But was it really the common potato, the spud, the tater, that we now know, adore and consume by the kilo, to which Shakespeare was referring?
And by "common potato" I refer to practically all of the supra 1000 potato varieties (99% in fact) that share common germplasm with a variety that at some time in the species' early history of domestication grew in the Chiloé Archipelago in South-central Chilé.
In both references, Shakespeare's characters allude to the potato's aphrodisiac, even phallic, properties. In Merry Wives, Falstaff tries it on with Mistress Ford:
My doe with the black scut! Let the sky rain
potatoes; let it thunder to the tune of Green
Sleeves, hail kissing-comfits and snow eringoes; let
there come a tempest of provocation, I will shelter me here.
Whilst Thersites, the scurrilous Greek, is ostentatiously lewd:
How the devil Luxury, with his fat rump and
potato-finger, tickles these together! Fry, lechery, fry!
In a letter to the Editor of the London Times, of August 28, 1882, an anonymous writer asserted that at the time of the plays' publication the word potato had a double meaning, referring both to the solanum (our common potato) and to a convolvulus (the ipomoea batatas, or "sweet potato"). Whilst John Gerard's Herball or Generalle Historie of Plantes (1597) refers to the potato as the "batatas", this is more likely a reference only to the imported potato, as opposed to Britain's homegrown variety (the sweet potato being too tender for the British climate).
Thus the protuberances on display in Shakespeare's works, whilst less tuberant in nature, are likely to be all the sweeter for it.
This suits as #potatofact #1, as the potato is believed to have been imported into Europe around a century before these two Shakespeare plays were published (1602 and 1609, respectively), but the plant's introduction and spread toward Northern Europe in the intervening period was both relatively unremarked and unremarkable.
But was it really the common potato, the spud, the tater, that we now know, adore and consume by the kilo, to which Shakespeare was referring?
And by "common potato" I refer to practically all of the supra 1000 potato varieties (99% in fact) that share common germplasm with a variety that at some time in the species' early history of domestication grew in the Chiloé Archipelago in South-central Chilé.
In both references, Shakespeare's characters allude to the potato's aphrodisiac, even phallic, properties. In Merry Wives, Falstaff tries it on with Mistress Ford:
My doe with the black scut! Let the sky rain
potatoes; let it thunder to the tune of Green
Sleeves, hail kissing-comfits and snow eringoes; let
there come a tempest of provocation, I will shelter me here.
Whilst Thersites, the scurrilous Greek, is ostentatiously lewd:
How the devil Luxury, with his fat rump and
potato-finger, tickles these together! Fry, lechery, fry!
In a letter to the Editor of the London Times, of August 28, 1882, an anonymous writer asserted that at the time of the plays' publication the word potato had a double meaning, referring both to the solanum (our common potato) and to a convolvulus (the ipomoea batatas, or "sweet potato"). Whilst John Gerard's Herball or Generalle Historie of Plantes (1597) refers to the potato as the "batatas", this is more likely a reference only to the imported potato, as opposed to Britain's homegrown variety (the sweet potato being too tender for the British climate).
Thus the protuberances on display in Shakespeare's works, whilst less tuberant in nature, are likely to be all the sweeter for it.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
How the potato staple fastens the boom
"The great mass of the French nation is formed by the simple addition of homologous magnitudes, much as potatoes in a sack form a sack of potatoes." Karl Marx
Just as he ridiculed the French bourgeoisie of his time, Marx himself evidently had little affinity for the humble potato, but one of his contemporaries had different ideas. Friedrich Engels identified how the potato underpinned the British industrial revolution of the 19th century, even going so far as to declare it the equal of iron for its "historically revolutionary role".
As a cheap source of calories and nutrients, and easy for urbanized workers to grow in the backyard plots of their terraced and tenement housing, potatoes became popular in England's northern coal regions during the early 19th century. Just as coal fired the furnace, the potato fuelled a population boom that provided the labour necessary for rapid industrial growth.
Is it a coincidence then, as China continues a sublime upward curve, and India's population explodes in parallel with unbridled economic development, that China and India now harvest nearly one third of the world's annual potato crop?
Metrically less labour-intensive and more nutritional per acre, and often more easily cultivated than rice, the exponential switch from the traditional crop to the bulbous tuber has unleashed a baby boom tsunami and a tidal wave of manpower.
This rapid community aggregation combined with a bedrock of diverse economic, cultural and artistic infrastructures, has productized these two countries. India and China have incubated a rich seam of models and best-of-breed deliverables synergized with all aspects of the supply-chain, from manufacturing goods to hi-tech e-solutions and consultancy services.
You have to ask: would all this be, were it not for some strong Désirée, an occasional Fingerling and a bit of Pink Eye?
Just as he ridiculed the French bourgeoisie of his time, Marx himself evidently had little affinity for the humble potato, but one of his contemporaries had different ideas. Friedrich Engels identified how the potato underpinned the British industrial revolution of the 19th century, even going so far as to declare it the equal of iron for its "historically revolutionary role".
As a cheap source of calories and nutrients, and easy for urbanized workers to grow in the backyard plots of their terraced and tenement housing, potatoes became popular in England's northern coal regions during the early 19th century. Just as coal fired the furnace, the potato fuelled a population boom that provided the labour necessary for rapid industrial growth.
Is it a coincidence then, as China continues a sublime upward curve, and India's population explodes in parallel with unbridled economic development, that China and India now harvest nearly one third of the world's annual potato crop?
Metrically less labour-intensive and more nutritional per acre, and often more easily cultivated than rice, the exponential switch from the traditional crop to the bulbous tuber has unleashed a baby boom tsunami and a tidal wave of manpower.
This rapid community aggregation combined with a bedrock of diverse economic, cultural and artistic infrastructures, has productized these two countries. India and China have incubated a rich seam of models and best-of-breed deliverables synergized with all aspects of the supply-chain, from manufacturing goods to hi-tech e-solutions and consultancy services.
You have to ask: would all this be, were it not for some strong Désirée, an occasional Fingerling and a bit of Pink Eye?
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