Changes

==History==

==History==

Potatoes yield abundantly with little effort, and adapt readily to diverse climates so long as the climate is cool and moist enough for the plants to gather sufficient water from the soil to form the starchy tubers. Potatoes do not keep very well in storage and are are vulnerable to molds that feed on the stored tubers, quickly turning them rotten. By contrast grain can be stored for several years without much risk of rotting.

Potatoes yield abundantly with little effort, and adapt readily to diverse climates so long as the climate is cool and moist enough for the plants to gather sufficient water from the soil to form the starchy tubers. Potatoes do not keep very well in storage and are vulnerable to molds that feed on the stored tubers, quickly turning them rotten. By contrast grain can be stored for several years without much risk of rotting.

===Peru===

===Peru===

Potatoes were first domesticated in Peru between 3000 BC and 2000 BC. In the altiplano, potatoes provided the principal energy source for the Inca Empire, its predecessors and its Spanish successor. In Peru above 10,000 feet altitude, tubers exposed to the cold night air turned into chuño; when kept in  permanently-frozen underground storehouses, chuño can be stored for years with no loss of nutritional value. The Spanish fed chuño to the silver miners who produced vast wealth in the 16th century for the Spanish government.<ref>Office of International Affairs, '' Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation'' (1989) [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=030904264X&page=92 online]</ref>  

Potatoes were first domesticated in Peru between 3000 BC and 2000 BC. In the altiplano, potatoes provided the principal energy source for the Inca Empire, its predecessors and its Spanish successor. In Peru above 10,000 feet altitude, tubers exposed to the cold night air turned into chuño; when kept in  permanently-frozen underground storehouses, chuño can be stored for years with no loss of nutritional value. The Spanish fed chuño to the silver miners who produced vast wealth in the 16th century for the Spanish government.<ref>Office of International Affairs, '' Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation'' (1989) [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=030904264X&page=92 online]</ref>  

   

   

====19th century====

====19th century====

French physician Antoine Parmentier studied the potato intensely and in ''Examen chymique des pommes de terres'' (Paris, 1774) showed their enormous  nutritional value. King [[Louis XVI]] and his court eagerly promoted the new crop, with Queen Marie Antoinette even wearing a headdress of potato flowers at a fancy dress ball. The annual potato crop of France soared to 21 million hectoliters in 1815 and 117 millions in 1840, allowing a concomitant growth in population while avoiding the Malthusian trap.  Although potatoes had become widely familiar in Russia by 1800, they were confined to garden plots until the grain failure in 1838-1839 persuaded peasants and landlords in central and northern Russia to devote their fallow fields to raising potatoes.  Potatoes yielded from two to four times more calories per acre than grain did, and eventually came to dominate the food supply in eastern Europe.  Boiled or baked potatoes were cheaper than rye bread, just as nutritious, and did not require a gristmill for grinding. On the other hand cash-oriented landlords realized that grain was much easier to ship, store and sell, so both grain and potatoes coexisted.<ref>William L. Langer, "American Foods and Europe's Population Growth 1750-1850," ''Journal of Social History,'' 8#2 (1975), pp. 51-66</ref>  

French physician Antoine Parmentier studied the potato intensely and in ''Examen chymique des pommes de terres'' (Paris, 1774) showed their enormous  nutritional value. King [[Louis XVI]] and his court eagerly promoted the new crop, with Queen Marie Antoinette even wearing a headdress of potato flowers at a fancy dress ball. The annual potato crop of France soared to 21 million hectoliters in 1815 and 117 millions in 1840, allowing a concomitant growth in population while avoiding the Malthusian trap.  Although potatoes had become widely familiar in Russia by 1800, they were confined to garden plots until the grain failure in 1838-1839 persuaded peasants and landlords in central and northern Russia to devote their fallow fields to raising potatoes.  Potatoes yielded from two to four times more calories per acre than grain did, and eventually came to dominate the food supply in eastern Europe.  Boiled or baked potatoes were cheaper than rye bread, just as nutritious, and did not require a gristmill for grinding. On the other hand, cash-oriented landlords realized that grain was much easier to ship, store and sell, so both grain and potatoes coexisted.<ref>William L. Langer, "American Foods and Europe's Population Growth 1750-1850," ''Journal of Social History,'' 8#2 (1975), pp. 51-66</ref>  

Throughout Europe the most important new food in the 19th century was the potato, which had three major advantages over other foods: its lower rate of spoilage, its bulk (which easily satisfied hunger), and its cheapness. The crop slowly spread across Europe, such that, for example, by 1845 it occupied one-third of Irish arable land. Potatoes comprised about 10% of the caloric intake of Europeans. Other foods imported from the New World included cod, sugar, rice, flour, and rum. These also provided an additional 10% of daily calories and proved a crucial factor in biodiversity of crops, thus preventing famines.<ref>John Komlos, "The New World's Contribution to Food Consumption During the Industrial Revolution." ''Journal of European Economic History'' 1998 27(1): 67-82. Issn: 0391-5115</ref>

Throughout Europe the most important new food in the 19th century was the potato, which had three major advantages over other foods: its lower rate of spoilage, its bulk (which easily satisfied hunger), and its cheapness. The crop slowly spread across Europe, such that, for example, by 1845 it occupied one-third of Irish arable land. Potatoes comprised about 10% of the caloric intake of Europeans. Other foods imported from the New World included cod, sugar, rice, flour, and rum. These also provided an additional 10% of daily calories and proved a crucial factor in biodiversity of crops, thus preventing famines.<ref>John Komlos, "The New World's Contribution to Food Consumption During the Industrial Revolution." ''Journal of European Economic History'' 1998 27(1): 67-82. Issn: 0391-5115</ref>