There is a well known Irish stereotype that involves an affinity for potatoes. I personally think potatoes are fantastic and prepare them often, in many ways. Though the tuber caused the Great Famine in Ireland, it didn’t originate there. Nor do potatoes come from the lands where they are made into vodka. Actually, most of the world had never seen a spud until the latter half of the 1700’s. Before I continue, let’s clarify that potatoes are completely different than sweet potatoes, which are in turn completely different than yams.

Today, 22% of the world’s supply is grown in China. The next four largest producers are India, Russia, Ukraine and the United States. Potatoes are also considered one of the ten staple foods across the planet. So where did they come from?

By the time Europeans began stomping around the Americas, you could find potatoes growing from southern Chile, all the way to what would become the Land of Hockey. That’s a spread of thousands of miles from one Native American civilization to the next. Thousands of years before that (7,000 – 10,000), they were first domesticated in southern Peru. The Spanish are responsible for bringing potatoes to Europe late in the 16th century, having recognized their nutritional value and growing potential. By the end of the 1700’s, potatoes had become an important staple crop around the world.

The cultivation of potatoes allowed populations to grow rapidly in many regions, especially Europe. Although thousands of varieties can be found where they originated in the Andes, just a fraction of that made it to farmland elsewhere. The limited genetic diversity left crops susceptible to disease. When the blight hit Irish potato farms in 1845, the resulting famine killed a million people and displaced a million more. Modern potato crops are much more diverse, and as you can see from the map below, they are grown all over the world. Even Madagascar has measurable potato production.

What absolutely fascinates me is that the potato went from being known only to Native Americans for thousands of years, to a global staple in just a few centuries. Just off the top of my head I am thinking: potato salad, potato soup, fries, chips, baked and mashed potatoes, hash browns, tater tots, there are potatoes in pierogi, potato vodka – the possibilities are endless. And it all started around Lake Titicaca in Peru.