The humble spud has its day in the sun

The humble spud — where would we be without it? If you’ve ever pondered that question, and you probably haven’t, then today is the day to muse on it further, as October 3 marks the return of National Potato Day.

An initiative of Bord Bia, alongside the Irish Potato Federation and the Irish Farmers Association, National Potato Day aims to extol the virtues of a vegetable which is inextricably linked with age-old notions of Irishness. There is even a website — www.potato.ie — stuffed with recipes, industry contacts, and ‘Spud Trivia’.

This is a goldmine of potato-related knowledge, such as the fact that, in October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space, thanks to the efforts of Nasa workers, and that the world’s biggest potato was grown in Germany in 1997 weighing 3.2kg, “the same weight as a small dog”.