Under English colours
The Spanish were not alone in introducing the potato into Europe. Other channels were opened by the English, and the potato shared the limelight with the great navigators who had won fame during the Elizabethan expeditions against the Spanish. Tradition has it that Sir Francis Drake introduced the potato into the newly‑established colonies of Virginia. When the colonists were repatriated to England in 1586, they brought back the potato which, in the meantime, had fed them. The botanist John Gerard planted it in his garden and made a study of it. The cover illustration of his "Herball", published in 1597, represents the potato and is thought to be the first figure of the plant published. In "the Herball," Gerard promotes the potato's taste. Did his works arouse the curiosity of the great of this earth?
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In any case, the Virginia potato was served at the table of James I. But popular success was long in coming. It was not before the 18th century that the potato was cultivated and sold at all the town markets. It was quite a different story for Ireland where, according to the botanist John Hougleton, Sir Walter Raleigh had it cultivated as early as the close of the 16th century. The tuber saved the population from famine at a time when successive wars ruined the harvest of cereal crops. From England to Scotland to Norway, the potato continued its journey. It seems certain that Swedish soldiers brought it to Prussia. |
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In short, by the end of the 18th century, our worthy Solanum was known and grown everywhere even though its varieties and names differed greatly. Spain had the patata, England the potato, Finland the peruna, the Rumanians the cartofla. the Serbs the krtola, Russia and Germany the Kartoffel, France the pomme de terre, the Irish the Murphy and China the Yang She. They all had the same Peruvian Papa. Two centuries had to go by, however, before you could see them on everybody’s table and on the menus of the most famous chefs. |
