potatoes1 - Google Docs

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Abilene Christian University *

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132

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Anthropology

Date

Oct 30, 2023

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pdf

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Uploaded by MegaHareMaster957

Certainly! The potato is a starchy food that grows underground as a tuber on the roots of the Solanum tuberosum plant. It's a root vegetable native to the Americas and belongs to the nightshade family known as Solanaceae. The potato plant is perennial, meaning it continues to grow year after year. Wild potato species can be found across a broad range, from the southern United States to southern Chile. Initially, it was believed that Native Americans independently domesticated potatoes in various locations. However, genetic studies later revealed a single origin in what is now southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia around 7,000 to 10,000 years ago. In the Andes region of South America, where the potato is indigenous, there are close relatives of the potato that are also cultivated. The potato made its way to Europe in the 16th century when the Spanish explorers brought it back from the Americas. Today, potatoes are a fundamental food source in many parts of the world and play a vital role in the global food supply. In fact, as of 2014, potatoes ranked as the fourth-largest food crop worldwide, following maize (corn), wheat, and rice. After centuries of selective breeding, there are now more than 5,000 different types of potatoes. The majority of potatoes grown globally are descended from varieties that originated in south-central Chile. The importance of potatoes as a food source and ingredient varies by region and continues to evolve. Potatoes remain a crucial crop in Europe, particularly in Northern and Eastern Europe, where production per person is among the highest in the world. The 21st century has seen a significant increase in potato production in southern and eastern Asia, with China and India leading global potato production. Like the tomato, the potato is a member of the nightshade family Solanum, and certain parts of the plant, including the leaves and unripe fruits, contain a toxin called solanine, which can be harmful if consumed. However, properly grown and stored potato tubers have only small, negligible amounts of solanine and are safe to eat. The concentration of solanine can increase when exposed to light, especially in green sections of the plant like sprouts and skins. As for the word "potato," it originates from the Spanish word "patata," which was used in Spain. The Spanish term itself is a combination of the Taíno word "batata" (meaning sweet potato) and the Quechua word "papa" (meaning potato). Interestingly, the term "potato" initially referred to sweet potatoes, even though sweet potatoes and potatoes are not closely related. In the 16th century, an English herbalist referred to sweet potatoes as "common potatoes" and used various terms like "bastard potatoes" and "Virginia potatoes" to describe what we now call potatoes. In the United States, potatoes are sometimes called "Irish potatoes" or "white potatoes" to distinguish them from sweet potatoes. The word "spud" for a potato comes from the act of digging the soil before planting potatoes. The word's origin is unclear, but it was initially used to describe a short knife or dagger around 1440, possibly related to the Latin word root "spad-," which means "sword." Over time, the term was applied to various digging tools and eventually to the potato itself. There's a misconception

that it stands for "Society for the Prevention of Unwholesome Diet (SPUD)," a supposed 18th-century activist group, but this origin story is false. In several languages, including Afrikaans, Dutch, French, Frisian, Hebrew, Persian, and some forms of German, terms for "potato" roughly translate to "earth apple" or "ground apple" in English.

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