As was shown in the previous section, the potato gained importance as a crop in Ireland in the period running up to the famine. However, the potato was not a native of Ireland. It had been found by Spanish conquistadors in south America in the 1500s was shipped to Europe, and reached Ireland around 1590.
Where is the potato originally from? The potato is native to the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes. It was cultivated in South America by the Incas as early as 1,800 years ago. The Spaniards who colonized South America introduced potatoes into Europe during the second half of the 16th century.
History of the Potato in Europe
Sir Walter Raleigh introduced potatoes to Ireland in 1589, but it took nearly four decades for the potato to spread to the rest of Europe.
Why were potatoes so important to Ireland? The potato plant was hardy, nutritious, calorie-dense, and easy to grow in Irish soil. By the time of the famine, nearly half of Ireland's population relied almost exclusively on potatoes for their diet, and the other half ate potatoes frequently.
Traditional wisdom has it that Sir Walter Raleigh introduced the crop to Ireland about 1585.
Far from being a natural disaster, many Irish were convinced that the famine was a direct outgrowth of British colonial policies. In support of this contention, they noted that during the famine's worst years, many Anglo-Irish estates continued to export grain and livestock to England.
Until the arrival of the potato in the 16th century, grains such as oats, wheat and barley, cooked either as porridge or bread, formed the staple of the Irish diet. The most common form of bread consisted of flatbread made from ground oats.
Historically, total potato consumption reached an all time high of 256,432 kt in 2020 and an all time low of 106,356 kt in 1962. The average annual growth amounted to 1.47 % since 1961. The top ranked country, China, accounted for 27.0 % of potato consumption in the world.
Potato is often considered synonymous with Ireland, due to the great Irish famine in 1845, and remains the most important primary food crop in Ireland. Over the last 60 yr, the area of potatoes has reduced from 86,000 ha to 9,000 ha.
Solanum tuberosum (Irish Potato, Irish Potatoes, Pomme de Terre, Potato, Potatoes, White Potato, White Potatoes) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox.
Scientists have long known that it was a strain of Phytophthora infestans (or P. infestans) that caused the widespread devastation of potato crops in Ireland and northern Europe beginning in 1845, leading to the Irish Potato Famine.
There are a number of Ipomoea species which are endemic to arid tropical Australia, which bear large edible underground tubers. Unlike the Central American-derived sweet potato (I. batatas), the Australian species have not been subject to the selective forces of hundreds or thousands of years of horticulture.
Potatoes were aboard the ship of explorer James Cook when he claimed eastern Australia for Britain in 1770, and their cultivation began along with colonization 18 years later. Today, various varieties are grown across the continent, from the temperate southern state of Tasmania to tropical North Queensland.
Background. Potatoes were introduced as a key vegetable crop by First Fleet settlers, being planted initially in the Parramatta district west of Sydney. They were a staple crop of most home gardens from settlement through until the 1960s.
For veggies, the Irish relied on cabbages, onions, garlic, and parsnips, with some wild herbs and greens spicing up the plate, and on the fruit front, everyone loved wild berries, like blackberries and rowanberries, but only apples were actually grown on purpose.
Ireland's traditional food most certainly includes champ. Champ is probably one of the best known of Irish dishes and it's a very simple one. Mashed potatoes made with good milk, butter and scallions (spring onions). Mashed together and sometimes served as a full meal back in the day.
Apples and wild strawberries are some of the most commonly grown fruits in Ireland. Another very common fruit is the bilberry. In Ireland it is referred to as a fraughan. It is also called the blaeberry, whortleberry, winberry, and fraughan.
We have a long tradition of using wild garlic (allium ursinum) from the woods in our food. This type of garlic is native to Ireland and probably arrived more than 10,000 years ago from Europe and Asia (is this the qualification for native?). Most garlic in Ireland stems from outside this country.
The "famine" ended in 1849, when British troops stopped removing the food. While enough food to sustain 18 million people was being removed from Ireland, its population was reduced by more than 2.5 million, to 6.5 million.
A major cause of Irish poverty was that more and more people were competing for land. Ireland was not industrialized. The few industries that had been established were failing.
Britain had failed in saving the Irish population because they were too busy trying to not lose any resources or money. Gray, Peter. “British Relief Measures.” Atlas of the Great Irish Famine. Ed.