One potato, two potato, three potato, four...

Foodie fact of the day: Peru is the original homeland of the potato. That's right: the potato was born not in Idaho, not in Ireland, but in the Peruvian Andes, a.k.a. my backyard. Any Peruvian worth his salt can tell you that there are over 3,000 varieties of potatoes grown in Peru: blue, purple, gold, orange, white, yellow, red, and brown potatoes; sweet and bitter potatoes; small, large, round, skinny, twisted, and lumpy potatoes... the list goes on.

Not only are Peruvians proud of their potato-heritage fame, but they also take full dietary advantage of it. Particularly in the mountains and in the campo, it is common to find the potato in attendance at all three daily meals: some kind of soup with potatoes for breakfast, a meat-rice-potatoes combo for lunch, and the leftovers of lunch for dinner. 

Like most PCVs arriving in Peru, the ubiquitous presence of the potato in my host-country diet did not thrill me. While it was interesting to taste the true extent of the variety of Peruvian tubers, I thought the potato was one of the world's less exciting vegetables, and was not keen to add what I viewed as just another carbohydrate to the already rice-heavy meals my host mother prepared.

However, reading Michael Pollan's "The Botany of Desire" this week, I learned that the Peruvians' potato-heavy menu is not so illogical after all - apparently the potato is pretty nutritious! "A diet of potatoes supplemented with cow's milk was nutritionally complete. In addition to energy in the form of carbohydrates, potatoes supplied considerable amounts of protein and vitamins B and C; all that was missing was vitamin A, and that a bit of milk could make up." So apparently the potato has its merits, and Peru's spud-loving campesinos aren't so crazy after all.