Since the first time they caught a ride on a Spanish ship from Peru, potatoes have taken the world on a wild journey. Feared as the “work of the devil”, hailed as the answer to starvation and cooked into a thousand different recipes, today our planet consumes one trillion- a trillion! – every single year. In this video we trace the potato back to the very beginning and follow its incredible path from Incan sacrifices to Mr. Potato Head and everything in between.
–
Please “Like” if you enjoy the video, subscribe to the channel, and turn on notifications!
–
Please consider supporting OTR on Patreon and thanks so much to anyone who does; your support truly keeps us going. http://www.patreon.com/OTRontheroad
Website: http://www.OTRontheroad.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/otr.offtherails/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D
–
0:00 – Introduction
1:04 – The Potato
2:13 – Machu Picchu
5:47 – Early History
8:17 – Chuño
9:53 – Market
13:28 – The Potato Crosses the Ocean
15:09 – The Savior of the Ming
18:03 – Tudou
20:45 – Fear and Superstition
23:20 – The Potato Takes Europe
28:14 – French Cuisine
30:51 – The Last Holdouts
33:39 – Potatoes Everywhere
35:10 – Ireland
36:37 – Famine
39:37 – Irish Feast
41:37 – Aftermath
43:30 – Fries, Chips, and Everything Else
46:44 – Ms. Maria and Mr. Singh
48:57 – Eight Days of Chuño
50:17 – The Big Day
54:25 – The Potato Today
57:34 – Credits and Post-Credits
–
Video Credits:
https://youtu.be/Y8KeqoGtSNA?si=mEx2C90rUk0AVbIR
https://youtu.be/3iSjIaM01j8?si=EcLdRKjY-JZ91Y3d
https://youtu.be/MbuHRo2HAgY?si=UPQSCitBrlU7RiFH
23 Comments
Location pins, and one quick note:
First- I want to clarify a couple of points in the video: 1) how the potato blight reached Europe is controversial; there are plenty of articles and books that claim it arrived first from North America. I trust the Smithsonian research and several Irish studies, which is why we stated the Peruvian origin, but I should have pointed out that it's not a definitive fact. And 2) Daria has been listening to a podcast on the French Revolution during her marathon training runs (I know, she's probably a sociopath) and informed me last night that my speculation about Louis XVI's potato decoration when he was sent to the guillotine couldn't be true, because he was in hiding as a commoner. Ah well.
Locations:
1- Chinese: https://maps.app.goo.gl/w5JvQLtwyGAcY1hx8
2- French: https://maps.app.goo.gl/xMqAGtVrMAy75wDK9
3- Irish: https://maps.app.goo.gl/BuLfQYAcbS6uxZLB8
4- Ms. Maria and Mr. Singh: https://maps.app.goo.gl/AZ9NqfwFSvP8sJ4Z9
And as always…our video was filmed at Boonlang (https://maps.app.goo.gl/UTiHPQszTb4pD6tf6) and our delivery burgers came from Easy Burger (https://maps.app.goo.gl/v9omBMhNL9dGDv2K6)
Cheers all
This guy does have good content but I can't stand his voice for very long
Love your work, but please tell me it was 1911!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) 1911 was when we…….???? keep it up
Yep, Guiness not good.
So many thanks for your videos man… I cannot love them more ❤️
Papas con Chorizo add some refried beans and your golden.
Excellent and brilliant. But I have to ask, after watching your Doria (sp), she just didn't seem to be that much into it. I'll just let that rest right there.
…Do you throw your child into the freezer, then out on the stoop while intermittently stomping on them?
57:11 – Ah.. and I thought you'd forgotten the vodka altogether… 😁
Saratoga mentioned 🎉
51:54 is that a gas cook top with one electric plate? Why?
Super well done!!!😊
So an euroamerican discovered potatoes……😂😂😂😂😂 couldnt watch any longer
why the entire video have some jagged black bars on it ?
Day 01 of asking politely for the crossover with Chinese cooking demystified
🤯👍I knew factoids about the not-so-humble 'tater', but never realised how much I DIDN'T know! Thanks for amazing insights into world history via the potato, over so many eras. I always appreciated potatoes, but never really understood how much of our history, that it affected & continues to affect to this day!🥔🍠
That was not a photograph of George Crum and he didn't invent "crisps", there are two recipes in British cookbooks that I think were published before George Crum was even born.
Love your work. Your pronunciations though 🥴😅
Ah! So many humble myths .. humbly mythologised .. de-mythed .. and re-mythed. It is well to note that for the indigenous settlers of the Andes the Incas with a blood-thirsty, hostile and domineering group of imperialists .. colonising among them and enslaving them. The Incas dominated the higher Andes for less than one hundred years before the Spanish came and dominated them – in support of indigenous peoples rebelling against the Inca rule .. and after whatever the Spanish could turn to a quick profit (aka exploit).
Thus, eager for gold and silver the new imperialists found what the old imperialists had conquered their neighbours .. for : a deliciously edible poisonous root, and all-round useful shape-shifting meal (worth their weight in gold or silver, for the locals but a variant on the turnip or suede or mangle used as cattle fodder and peasant food in Europe). In short, the very idea and novelty and success of capitalism at work, finding a more or less junk resource, repackaging it and .. Boom! .. industrial-scale consumption.
History (and food) can be fun … ;o)
🥔🥔🥔 The Irish famine certainly teaches us all why NOT to plant monocultures. Such practice can come at a very high price. Famine. 😳🥺😭😭😭
❤❤Who does not just love all kinds of potatos??❤❤
🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔
Potatos, can even be grown in planters and buckets, if you don't have a backyard. Just because you enjoy growing plants, and keep on growing all kinds of useful stuff.
🥔🥔🥔🥔🍅🫑🥔🌽🍆🎃🥒🥬🥦🧄🧅🍓🥔🥔🥔🥔
That tartar looked terrific – you need to do an episode about vietnamese (and imported) raw meat dishes 😀 . I'm sure there is a nice selection.