🥔 The Potato: One of the Most Important Foods of the 18th Century
What looks like a simple potato was once a lifeline for millions. In the 18th century, the potato became a cornerstone of survival across Ireland, England, and North America.
🌎 Ancient origins
Potatoes were grown for thousands of years in the Andes before reaching Europe in the 1500s through Spanish exploration.
🚢 Arrival in Europe
By the late 1500s, potatoes appeared in Spain and Ireland. Within decades, they became essential—especially for the poor.
🔥 Survival food
Because potatoes grow underground, they survived war, raids, and crop destruction. In Ireland, laborers lived almost entirely on potatoes.
⚖️ Hard to believe, but true
Many workers ate 10–15 pounds per day, making up 85–90% of their diet.
🍽️ Simple cooking
Boiled with salt. Sometimes milk, butter, or sugar. No waste. No extras. Just fuel.
🥣 Versatility in the kitchen
• Boiled and mashed
• Mixed into broths
• Turned into bread and cakes
• Used to stretch wheat during shortages
🍞 Potato bread
Mixing mashed potatoes with flour doubled bread output and improved texture—an 18th-century solution still used today.
📜 Why it mattered
The potato fed the poor, supported labor economies, and shaped food traditions still with us today.
Simple food. Massive impact.