The potato has revolutionized Western civilization as much as the car and the railway - It has been a delicacy, a fast food, and a hedge against famine. Revered today for being reliable and nutritious, the potato has been a crucial ingredient in the dramatic economic and social changes that swept through Europe and the United States in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
For two centuries after its arrival in Europe from the New World, the potato was regarded as food fit only for pigs and peasants - it is now part of our staple diet. The story of that transformation is one of politics, prejudice, poverty and survival. It is the story of population explosions, the Industrial Revolution and the modern order taking shape on both sides of the Atlantic, it also encompasses palaces, parliaments, and the humblest of kitchens.
From the peasants who first dug it out of the earth in the Andes to the scientists who speculated about its aphrodisiac qualities, Larry Zuckerman takes the reader on an engrossing journey through four centuries of social, economic and domestic history. He captures the drama of everyday existence in a world undergoing a dazzling transformation at an urgent pace. Drawing from personal diaries, chronicles, newspaper editorials, government records, and many other original sources, he brings this story to life, creating both vibrant individual portraits and a panorama of the times.
