We’re all guilty of it. No matter how much we love our French fries, our chips, and our loaded bakes, we all tend to take the foundation of those culinary delights — the humble potato — for granted. It is, after all, just a dirt-covered lump of starchy calories dug from the earth: a root that requires considerable manipulation and imagination to become even barely edible.

And for the most part, it’s just a side dish anyway . . . unless of course it’s a loaded baked potato smothered in some form of protein such as chili con carne and gobs of cheddar cheese with an added insult of sour cream shimmering on top, all sprinkled with some crispy crumbled bacon and chopped green onion.

Okay, now I’m really hungry! But I digress . . .

So who would have thought that, in a world overflowing with exotic delights such as caviar, truffles, and haricots verts (those impossibly skinny little French green beans), the potato would have been chosen to have its very own day — and an international day, at that? Well, it has been . . . and by no less an exalted institution than the United Nations!

Now frankly, I would have thought they’d be too busy dealing with issues like, well, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, or China’s gun-toting robot dogs (wrote about those yesterday), or the world’s never-ending ecological disasters, to worry about the humble spud. But they’re not; and with good reason.

Because in a world plagued with both natural and man-made disasters on a daily basis, the kartoffel (that’s Germany’s, Russia’s, and a few other countries’ name for it, though with different accents) stands out as one hell of a life-saving, famine-preventing, economy-boosting miracle. Just ask the Irish of the mid-19th Century . . . or at least the ones who didn’t die of starvation when the potato crops became infected with one of those unpronounceable blights.

At any rate, to honor this surprisingly nutritious hunk of Heaven, the United Nations last year decided that henceforth May 30th each year will be known as International Potato Day. And from the good folks at the U.N. we now know — those of us who didn’t previously realize, myself included — that there are some 5,000 varieties of the incredible pomme de terre (that’s the French name, which somewhat whimsically translates to “apple of the earth”); and that it is adaptable to many climates, making it a vital crop in the effort to combat hunger and malnutrition throughout the world.

Did you know that one medium white potato (with skin) contains a whopping 620 mg. of potassium, 45% of the daily requirement of Vitamin C, as well as niacin, folate, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous, and Vitamin B6? And it also brags of low greenhouse gas emissions . . . though if you smother it with a heaping helping of that chili, you may soon be emitting enough of those deadly gases yourself to offset the original benefit to the environment.

But never mind . . . I digress again, and in a somewhat inappropriate direction. Sorry.

Thus, on December 16, 2023 (the birthday of Ludwig von Beethoven, by the way . . . a bit of trivia apropos of absolutely nothing), the United Nations resolution was unanimously adopted. The leading force behind the resolution was Peru, where our subject — the potato, in case the pictures weren’t enough of a reminder — is affectionately known as the papa. And that country is itself home to thousands of potato varieties as well as — and I did not know this either — the International Potato Center. Not surprisingly, the UN decision was hailed by the Food and Agriculture Organization — of which I also had never heard, but which sounds like an altogether good thing.

And so today we celebrate for the very first time . . . drumroll, please . . . International Potato Day. I suggest we all grab, at the very least, a Peruvian flag, a bag of potato chips, and a glass of our favorite liquid refreshment, and munch away. Somewhere in the world, a potato grower will thank us.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/30/24