ORIGIN OF POTATOES

Peru is often considered the birthplace of potatoes. They have been grown in the country and
in the Potatoes grew well despite the conditions and over many years, potatoes became one
of the most important foods in early Peruvian culture. In fact, there are close to 4000 varieties
of potatoes in Peru! Each of the different sizes, shapes, colors, skin, texture, and pulp change
the taste slightly and allow the different potatoes to be used in distinct recipes. While experts
are unable to pinpoint a solid date and place of origin, they say potatoes have been grown in
and around the country for at least 3,000 years. However, they may have been grown for as
long as 13,000 years. Scientists have found potatoes in the area of Lake Titicaca, where they
believe they were farmed as early as 10,000 years ago.

Stories About the Origin of Potatoes

In the pre-Inca cultures, there were several indicators that the potato was used extensively. It
was also apparent in the expressions of other cultures inhabiting the Peruvian Andes. Some of
these expressions can be seen in the pottery pieces left by the Chimu and Nazca people.
Potato cultivation spread well beyond the Andes over the centuries.

Potatoes have an incredibly rich and interesting history. For thousands of years, they were
cultivated by the Incas in Peru. The earliest archaeological evidence exists on the shores of
Lake Titicaca from roughly 400 BCE!

The Incas learned how to preserve this durable veggie for storage by dehydrating and mashing
them into a substance called chuño. They could store it for up to 10 years, and it provided
great insurance against crop failures. The Incas had a great reverence for potatoes, and
thought that they made childbirth easier, as well as used them to treat injuries. It wasn’t until
the mid-sixteenth century that potatoes would venture across the seas to Europe.

Potatoes Travelled to Europe by Way of Spanish Conquistadors

Potatoes were brought to other parts of the world by the Spanish conquistadors. They arrived
in the country in 1532 to find gold, but they were intrigued by the food the locals were eating.
As an easy-to-cultivate food, they saw the value of the potato in close comparison with the
precious metals they originally sought. They were introduced in Spain in the later 1500s.

They found these mysterious-looking tubers (kind of like a short, fleshy, underground stem)
and had no idea that these innocuous-looking vegetables were far more valuable than gold
and jewels (you can’t even eat gold and jewels!). They stashed them aboard their ships, and
returned home.

The 1600s saw the spread of potatoes through Spain, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland,
Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, and Portugal, but people were hesitant to cook with them.
Many people were incredibly suspicious of potatoes, because of their resemblance to plants in
the nightshade family—some people thought they were crafted by witches.
Eventually, explorers, merchants, and people prone to taking long sea voyages noticed how
long they stayed fresh and tasty, and began using them as basic rations aboard their ships.

Europeans Were Intensely Suspicious of Potatoes

In the 1700s, the aristocracy in France and Prussia recognized how easy it was to grow
potatoes, and how they could better feed their population with them. But they were
challenged with how to convince people that potatoes should be considered food fit for
humans. Up until then, they were being fed almost exclusively to animals.

Frederick the Great wanted to feed his nation and help lower the price of bread. So he came
up with a scheme, and a pretty good one at that.

To elevate potatoes in the eyes of his people, he planted a royal field of potatoes, and placed a
heavy guard around it. Naturally, this made people curious. They figured that anything worth
guarding that heavily was absolutely worth stealing. And so they began to steal the potato
plants for their home gardens and the plants were quickly spread.

How the French Monarchs Tried to Convince their Subjects to Eat Potatoes

The French aristocracy thought the best way to inspire people to start seeing potatoes en
vogue was to start literally wearing potato blossoms. Some of the most famous adoptees of
this fashion trend was King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. They decorated their buttonholes
and hair with the white and purple flowers, helping to influence people’s perception of these
fashionable and delicious potatoes.

Thomas Jefferson Makes Potatoes Fashionable in North America

The ever-exploring Europeans brought the potato into North America in the 1620s when the
British governor in the Bahamas made a special gift of them to the governor of Virginia. They
spread slowly through the northern colonies, but had much of the same initial reception in
North America as they did in Europe.

It wasn’t until Thomas Jefferson served up some fresh spuds during a White House dinner to
some of his distinguished guests that potatoes were seen in a whole new light. From there,
potatoes were able to gain steady popularity—especially amongst Irish immigrants.

The Modern Russet Potato Appeared in the Late 1800s

After hundreds of years of patiently waiting for the world to accept them as a vegetable with
so much to offer, potatoes were finally recognized as the no-fuss, nutritious vegetable they
are. Population booms seemed to follow them wherever they went, and none were so
dramatic than in Ireland. By the 1800s, potatoes were a staple in the homes of Irish families.

The high yields of potato crops allowed even the poorest farmers to produce healthy food with
very little resources. As a result, potatoes evolved and were bred to be larger so that they
could feed more people. In the late 1800s, the modern day russet potato was born.
Potatoes Become One of the Top 5 Most Important Crops in the World

Eventually, people realized that they were one of the best veggies around—in fact, potatoes
alone supply every vital nutrient except for calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin D. They went from
being one of the most misunderstood forms of produce to one of the top five most important
food crops on our planet.

Little Potatoes are Just Like Their Ancestors

Our Little Potatoes resemble their ancestors from the Andes—little, vibrant, and full of
nutrients. Eating our heritage varietals like Chilean Splash is like taking a journey back in time
to the origin of potatoes. That’s what we mean when we say, ‘save the potato’; we want to
bring potatoes back to their natural, nutritious, tasty roots.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-potato-changed-the-world-108470605/
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/potato/
http://www.history-magazine.com/potato.html
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2007/05/secret-history-potato

http://lacostanerarestaurant.com/blog/history-potatoes-peru/

https://kidworldcitizen.org/history-of-peruvian-potatoes-a-recipe/

http://deleite-portal.blogspot.com/2013/10/la-papa-peruana-origen-e-historia.html

http://www.papasandinas.org/

https://cipotato.org/
There is little archaeological, linguistic or ethnographic evidence of the history of quinoa since
we know of few religious rites associated with the use of this grain. Archaeological evidence in
the Ayacucho region of Peru indicates that domestication of quinoa began 5000 years before
Christ. There are also archaeological finds consisting of quinoa seeds in ancient tombs in
Tarapaca, Calama and Arica and other regions of Peru.

When the Spanish arrived quinoa was already highly developed and widely distributed
throughout the Inca territory and beyond. The first reports of quinoa came from Spaniard
Pedro de Valdivia who was studying the Andean cultures. The famous chronicler Garcilaso de
la Vega described the quinoa plant as the second most cultivated grain on Earth and that it
resembled millet or rice. He also mentions the first time seeds were sent to Europe, which
unfortunately arrived damaged and could not be germinated, possibly due to the high
humidity during the journey by sea.

One evidence of the use of quinoa can be found in ceramics from the Tiahuanaco culture
where it is represented with several panicles distributed along the stem.Quinoa has been
cultivated in Peru since pre-Hispanic times (more than five thousand years). The area around
Lake Titicaca is considered the principal origin of quinoa and where the greatest biological
diversity of this species is still conserved, here there are ingenious agricultural methods for its
production and it is part of the daily diet of the people of this area.

During the time of the Inca Empire, quinoa became one of their main crops and part of the
basic diet of the people.

At the time of Spanish arrival, quinoa was well developed technologically and was widely
distributed within and beyond Inca territory. The first Spaniard to note the cultivation of
quinoa was Pedro de Valdivia who, on noticing the planted crops around Concepción, recorded
that, for food, the native indians also sowed quinoa among other plants.

In his royal commentaries, Garcilaso de la Vega, describes quinoa as one of the second grains
cultivated on the face of the earth, somewhat resembling millet or short-grain rice. He also
mentions the first shipment of seeds to Europe which were unfortunately dead on arrival and
unable to germinate, perhaps because of the high humidity of the sea voyage.

Later, Cieza de León (1560) reported that quinoa was cultivated in the highlands of Pasto and
Quito, mentioning that little maize but an abundance of quinoa was grown on these cold lands.
Also, Patiño (1964) in his chronicles on La Pazmentions the use of quinoa as a source of food
for the indigenous populations (Jimenes de la Espada, 1885, II, 68). Finally, Humboldt, on
visiting Colombia, states that quinoa always accompanied and followed the inhabitants of
Cundinamarca.
Domestication

Before its domestication, wild quinoa was probably first used mainly as a source of food from
its leaves and seeds. There is early evidence of its morphology on pottery from the Tiahuanaco
culture depicting a quinoa plant with several panicles along its stem, which would suggest one
of the more primitive strains of the plant.

Its genetic variability indicates quinoa as an oligocentric species with widely distributed centre
of origin and multiple diversification. The Andean region and, in particular, the shores of Lake
Titicaca present the greatest genetic diversity and variation.

Quinoa has undergone a wide range of morphological changes during its domestication and as
a result of human activity. These include a more compact inflorescence at the tip of the plant,
an increase in size of stem and seed, loss of seed dispersal mechanisms and high levels of
pigmentation.

Since the last third of the twentieth century, the cultivation of quinoa in the Andean area has
spread to other countries in South America through cooperative technology research and
transfer programs, such as PROCISUR, PROCIANDINO, JUNAC, and FAO; and from there to
Central America (Mexico and Guatemala, initially for research purposes and then for
production). Subsequently, it has been disseminated to the United States and Canada, mainly
in the form of farming in southern Bolivia and Chile. More recently, genetic material from the
Andean area has been exchanged and disseminated among researchers in the Andean area,
and then out of it through cooperative programs between countries and research institutions.

Today, quinoa is cultivated in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, in the north of Argentina and other
countries. Peru and Bolivia are the main producers of this Andean grain which became very
popular in the colonial period, called “wheat of the Incas” by the Spanish.Peru has a great
genetic diversity of quinoa, both wild and cultivated, making it one of the biggest producers
and exporters, representing a great opportunity for Peruvians in this business.

(Fuente: Mujica, A., Izquierdo, J. & Marathee, J. “Origen y descripción de la quinua”. En:
Quinua. Ancestral Cultivo Andino, Alimento del Presente y Futuro. Lima: FAO, CIP, UNALM
http://www.rlc.fao.org/es/agricultura/produ/cdrom/contenido/libro03/cap1.htm )
Tapia, Mario y A.M. Fries. 2007. Guía de campo de los cultivos andinos, FAO, Lima, Perú.

http://quinua.pe/quinua-historia/

http://www.ancientgrains.com/quinoa-history-and-origin/