Eat This Podcast
Talking about anything around food
Subscribe
Collections
Donate
Archive

The true history of the potato in Europe Let’s hear it for the peasants

15 November 2021

Statue of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier being removed for cleaning

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:26 — 22.8MB)

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Android | RSS | More

book cover

The story that’s often told of the potato in Europe is one of ignorant, superstitious peasants and wily aristocrats. The peasants shun the potato until the wily aristo plays a trick on them to open their eyes to the true value of the potato. The aristo might be someone like Antoine-Augustin Parmentier in France or Frederick the Great in Prussia, but whoever it was, the bones of the story remain the same. And — mea culpa — I believed the story and even retold it myself on occasion. So I naturally slapped my forehead, hard, when I heard Rebecca Earle give an online lecture about the history of the potato and resolved to talk to her myself.

Rebecca Earle doesn’t deny that something happened to put potatoes and their promoters into the history books, but shows clearly that the peasants were far smarter than history gives them credit for.

Notes

  1. Feeding the People: the Politics of the Potato by Rebecca Earle is a cracking read. If you buy it here, in the US or here, in the UK, I get a teeny-weeny commission and you get to feel good about supporting bookshops.
  2. I’ve no hesitation in linking to the episode Potatoes are (almost) perfect with Carol Deppe.
  3. Here is the transcript.
  4. Banner photograph is of Parmentier’s statue in Neuilly being removed for a good clean. Supporters get a special newsletter with lots more detail. Cover photo is a detail from The Potato Harvest (Kartoffelernte, 1889) by Ludwig Kraus.

huffduffer icon   Huffduff it

Filed under: Podcasts
See also: ,

14 thoughts on The true history of the potato in Europe Let’s hear it for the peasants

  • Dan Saladino mentioned this post 3 years ago.

    “The strongest men & the most beautiful women in Britain subsist on the potato… (& they make you happy..” The true history of the humble spud: Adam Smith, Kant, capitalism, propaganda & tubers another great episode of ⁦@EatPodcast⁩ + Rebecca Earle eatthispodcast.com/potato-history/

    Reply
  • Aoife Cox commented 3 years ago.

    Latest episode offers a revisionist history of the potato in Europe with Rebecca Earle, author of Feed the People: The Politics of the Potato.

    eatthispodcast.com/potato-history/

    Reply
  • Flicka Small commented 3 years ago.

    Latest episode offers a revisionist history of the potato in Europe with Rebecca Earle, author of Feed the People: The Politics of the Potato.

    eatthispodcast.com/potato-history/

    Reply
  • Samantha Collins commented 3 years ago.

    Latest episode offers a revisionist history of the potato in Europe with Rebecca Earle, author of Feed the People: The Politics of the Potato.

    eatthispodcast.com/potato-history/

    Reply
  • Marci Baranski commented 3 years ago.

    Latest episode offers a revisionist history of the potato in Europe with Rebecca Earle, author of Feed the People: The Politics of the Potato.

    eatthispodcast.com/potato-history/

    Reply
  • AgroBioDiverse commented 3 years ago.

    Latest episode offers a revisionist history of the potato in Europe with Rebecca Earle, author of Feed the People: The Politics of the Potato.

    eatthispodcast.com/potato-history/

    Reply

    • Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Webmentions

    Webmentions allow you to respond on your own site and have that appear here. Your response should include a link to this post. Paste the URL to your post below and your comment will appear here. (Learn More.)

You might also like:

  1. Neanderthal Diets Grateful that they didn't brush their teeth From a wilderness survival trick to a new theory on Neanderthal cooking....
  2. Industrial strength craft beer What matters is not how little beer you make, but how carefully you make your beer....
  3. Australia: where healthier diets are cheaper … ... but people spend more to eat badly Australians devote almost 60 cents of every dollar they spend on food to unhealthy stuff. They could eat better for less money, but "affordable luxuries" get in the way....
  4. Italian coffee: a temporary triangle Tying together Italy, Brazil and Italian East Africa "The cups might break, but the images recycle endlessly."...
email log Instagram logo mastodon logo Micro Blog logo Email logo

Search

About Eat This Podcast

Eat This Podcast has been going since March 2013. That’s a long time in podcast world. In that time, it has twice been nominated for a James Beard Award, although it remains a labour of love rather than a search for glory.

I am a biologist with a keen interest in food and agriculture. Eat This Podcast allows me to pursue my interests and share what I find.

I owe an immense debt of gratitude to all the guests who agree to be on the show, to the professional broadcasters who trained me, and to the software that allows me to do all this myself.

Subscribe here to get an email for each new episode. Between episodes, Eat This Newsletter brings you a selection of choice items I’ve found.

You will need to confirm your subscription, so look out for that and, maybe, check your spam folder.

Non-podcast News

Help Keep the Lights On

Ratings and reviews are great. So is an actual donation.

Elsewhere

There are other places I write and respond.

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread was a series of micro-episodes on the history of wheat and bread, with an episode every day through the month of August 2018.

Posts are in correct chronological order, so you need to scroll to the bottom to find the latest.