Save our spud: Bord Bia launches SOS campaign

AS Bord Bia pulls its hair out wondering why we are falling out of love with our national vegetable, nutritionists are warning the public not to turn their backs on the humble Irish spud.

We may still eat more potatoes than any other nationality — each Irish adult eats about seven stone of potatoes annually — but year on year sales of potatoes in this country are dropping by 10%.

We shouldn’t, however, be fooled by notions that eating “foreign food” will make us more lithe and lean, says consultant nutritionist Aiveen Bannon.

“The big problem is that people think it’s fattening and it’s not. Two potatoes are equal to a portion of rice or pasta. And if you have a baked potato or a boiled potato with its skin on, it has more fibre than a portion of brown rice,” she says.

According to Aiveen and Bord Bia, potatoes are a great source of folic acid, fibre and, surprisingly, Vitamin C. In fact, potatoes have long been the main source of vitamin C in the Irish diet.

But what about all that salt and butter we put on our potatoes, the innate fattiness of a well-roasted spud or the oodles of cream we layer on?

“The butter, cream and salt are all an option but look at how creamy curries and pasta sauces can also make a pasta dish very fattening,” Aiveen says.

Bord Bia is so concerned about the falling figures that it has commissioned research to find out why pasta, noodles, polenta, couscous and other carbohydrates are being chosen over traditional potatoes.

It has issued tender documents seeking to better understand “the dynamics of the Irish potato market”.

Spokeswoman Rosaleen O’Shaughnessy said that while potatoes may be seen as fattening, many consumers are unwittingly replacing them with much fattier and nutritionally deficient foods.

“Of the households who have moved away from potatoes, 57% of those switching are going to frozen potato products, such as chips and waffles, with 27% going to pasta, and 16% going to rice,” she says.