We don't know if Moses ever ate a potato, but horticultural historians say that long before he crossed the Red Sea potatoes were being grown in the Andes of South America. By the time of the Spanish conquest, farmers were producing 3,000 varieties. The potato became the basis for several great Andean empires, mainly because of its nutrition and its high commercial value. It has become a major food source around the globe. In developing countries it ranks only after rice, wheat and maize.
Potatoes are always affordable, even when prices are relatively high.
Guess we'll have to cut down on potatoes. A field of potatoes produces more food and more nutrition more reliably than the same field planted in grain. The nickname SPUD was originally an acronym in famine-ravaged Ireland for the Society for the Prevention of Unwholesome Diets. Potatoes also consume less energy than does the production of wheat. They do not produce tooth cavities as readily as grains do.