The potato is the most consumed land product by mankind – apart from cereals – and classified as a pillar of global food security. Story of a planetary conquest from South America.
This is the story of a success story planetary. The potato, or potatois today, apart from grain – rice or wheat – the most consumed land product on earth. « Everyone loves potatoes ! »underlines the journalist Marie-Laure Fréchet, who dedicated a book to him, The Big Book of Potatoes (Flammarion editions).
Tuberous nightshade has almost nothing but benefits, so much so that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO) considers the potato a pillar of global food security. When you master your culture, it is very productive and cheap. It can be produced in different climates. It is a relatively easy culture, which can be preserved, and it is also important, enlightens Marie-Laure Fréchet. It is a source of carbohydrates, a starchy food, essential for the diet. We eat less bread, but we eat a little more potatoes. »
The potato is not an apple
Every year, 375 million tons of potatoes are grown in around 150 countries. But that wasn’t always the case for a plant that was domesticated about 12,000 years ago in the Andes, South America. The Spanish conquistadors brought it back to Europe in the 16th century, like the tomato, from the same family as the potato. But she struggles to assert herself.
Unlike, say, cocoa, or other exotic products that may have been brought back, we don’t really know what to do with potatoes, says Marie-Laure Fréchet. We find all sorts of faults in it. Much less delicious than today, it was undoubtedly quite bitter. And above all, we were wary of what came from the earth. We didn’t really know what it was so we called it potato. But the potato is not an apple, it is not a fruit.
The potato, in fact, does not grow in trees, but in the earth; it is a tuber, and from a botanical point of view it is indeed a vegetable. The worldwide conquest of the potato begins with Spain, Southern Europe, but also Germany: ” There was even an edict from a Prussian emperor to force the Germans to cultivate a small patch of potatoes each. » But in France potatoes were only fed to pigs for a long time.
french fries
France has since caught up: it is the leading exporting country in the world, and also the third country in Europe in terms of consumption, behind Germany and Poland. And it was in Paris that French fries were invented, more than 200 years ago. ” Sweet potatoes have done much to promote the potato because it improves its taste », believes Marie-Laure Fréchet, Grande Oil of the Brotherhood of Fresh Homemade Fries. ” In the Hauts-de-France region, we are setting up numerous frying factories to export frozen fries to China and India. »
China has become the world’s leading producer of potatoes by size. In Africa, potatoes, which require four times less water than rice cultivation, have really taken off over the past 30 years, and are today the fourth largest food crop. around the world, the potato gives the sweet potato, the peach, the banana, or… the potato.
Question of the week
“Why did God make the sky so high? »
« To prevent birds from bumping into each other while flying… » This is a replica taken from Martin Scorsese’s film The Irishman. And it is true that some birds fly very high in the sky, especially migratory birds, which travel great distances and take advantage of the powerful winds at altitude. But the world record belongs to a bird of prey, the Rüppel’s vulture, found in West Africa, capable of flying more than 11,000 meters. We know this because it was precisely at an altitude of 11,300 meters that a Rüppel vulture hit a plane in mid-air over Abidjan in 1973. And for once, to end this column, we will avoid a fall that does not fly very high…