Our love affair with the spud
The potato shines through Irish history, in good times and bad. It is central to the life of the people, has inspired poets and sometimes rivals the rain as a topic of conversation.
And in culinary terms it has evolved from the traditional boiled jacket vegetable to being a central ingredient of many modern gourmet dishes.
The United Nations has chosen 2008 as the International Year of the Potato. The aim is to raise awareness of its importance and of agriculture in general.
Ireland is marking the occasion with a programme of events co-ordinated by a committee with members from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Bord Bia, the Irish Potato Federation, Teagasc, the Irish Farmers Association, Agri Aware and Safefood.
Agri Aware has for instance organised a ‘Meet the Spuds’ challenge for primary school children with the hope that they will learn about the nutritional, historical and cultural importance of the floury spuds in Ireland and how they are grown and cooked.
Pupils are being urged to sow seed potatoes in February and harvest the crop in June, monitoring their progress along the way on a class scrapbook with diagrams, photographs and written observations.
They will be expected to wash the harvested crop, weigh it and send the scrapbook to Agri Aware for assessment. Participating schools have the chance to win over €10,000 in garden development funds.
Sixty tonnes of compost, two tonnes of seed potatoes, 8,000 growing bags and classroom wall charts have been distributed to almost 4,000 primary schools across the country in a major logistical operation for the initiative. It is taking place against a background of Irish consumers spending about €162 million on potatoes each year. No other vegetable comes close by comparison in consumption terms, the nearest being tomato at €74m, followed by carrots at €49m.
Penetration of potatoes into Irish households is at 95%, a clear indication that they are the country’s favourite vegetable and our staple food.
Sir Walter Raleigh is credited with having planted the first potatoes in Ireland at Youghal in 1585.
Other anecdotal evidence suggests that the vegetable was washed up on the shores of Cork after the wreck of the Spanish Armada.
In any case, the potato has played a central role in Irish history. The failure of the crop due to blight in 1845 led to the Great Famine that left 1.5 million people dead and a further million forced to emigrate.
“Irish people have a deep memory of the effects of famine on our nation,” says Food Minister Trevor Sargent.
“Our history means we are acutely aware of the need to focus on the potato and the vital role that agriculture can play in improving nutrition and supporting food security.”
Today’s conference, which Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan will officially open, will examine a wide range of issues facing the sector, which has some 750 growers.
They produce around 400,000 tonnes of potatoes from more than 12,000 hectares each year. About 100 growers are responsible for around 70% of total production in Ireland.
Grant aid supporting capital investments under the National Development Plan has acted as a catalyst for the continuing modernisation of the sector at grower, packer and processor level.
However, the industry has gone through difficult times in recent years with the vagaries of the weather, the impact of imports on the domestic market, falling grower numbers, crop disease and the purchasing power of supermarket groups. Growers have repeatedly claimed that they are receiving less and less of the supermarket shelf price for their supplies, having invested millions to ensure a top quality product for consumers.
Putting potatoes back on Irish plates is the title of a paper which nutritionist Paula Mee will deliver at today’s conference, organised by Teagasc and the IFA.
It is a timely subject because of the findings of a study carried out in Britain by YorkTest, a food intolerance testing firm.
The results, published last week, identified the potato as the safest item on the food menu and least likely to cause migraine, eczema, fatigue and irritable bowel syndrome.
Analysis of more than 8,000 volunteers who took a food intolerance test revealed less than 1% tested positive on potatoes.
Other foods topping the safe list were grapefruit, apricot, apple, barley and lemon. But the potato was declared the outright winner. In an era of increasing consumer concerns about health and well being, that must surely be an encouraging basis for developing the industry here.
