Page 38 - Valley Table - November 2022-February 2023

IN SEASON
POTATOES
by robin cherry
THE POTATO IS OFTEN CHARACTERIZED AS humble, but in truth the tuber fueled the rise of empires and literally changed the world. Born in the Andes Mountains between Peru and Bolivia over 8,000 years ago, potatoes were the main ingredient in the Incan diet—especially when freeze- dried into chuño, which keeps unrefrigerated for years with its nutritional properties intact. Chuño sustained Incan armies and villagers alike, providing the sustenance needed to build one
of the world’s largest empires, a 2,500-mile-long swath of land inhabited by 12 million people.
Potatoes didn’t arrive in Europe until the 16th century, courtesy of Spanish conquistadors who ferried them across the Atlantic. By nourishing the continent’s burgeoning population, potatoes contributed to the rise of the European empires that ruled the world until the end of WWII. When the knobby, odd- looking root vegetables arrived, they were hardly an overnight
36 the valley table nov 2022 – feb 2023