ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two main sources of information: publications on the origin and worldwide spread of the potato crop and statistical reports issued by Food and Agriculture Organization. The potato has its origin in the high Andes of South America, but most potatoes have been grown in Europe. For this reason, many people think of it as a European crop—the “Irish” potato—and assume that world trends in potato production and use parallel European trends. People rejected potatoes as being unclean, unhealthy, or even poisonous. Physicians warned that eating potatoes could result in ills ranging from indigestion and flatulence to rickets and syphilis. Perhaps no single crop and no country have been so closely associated in modern history as have the potato and Ireland. Potato production spread throughout the country and is particularly important in the northeast, Inner Mongolia, and in steep mountain valleys in the southern provinces.
