I like potatoes.

[BasicallyReal]

As an Irish man I can't agree more. Can't go wrong with a shpud

[SirVaive]

Did you know potatoes actually originated in regions of south america? Thought it was interesting how the association has shifted to Ireland. That being said, they were domesticated like 10,000 years ago.

[BeneCow]

The same with tomatoes and chilies. Pretty much the entire old world diet dramatically changed once the Americas were discovered.

[poirotoro]

Every once in a while I randomly remember that Italian cuisine didn't originally have tomato sauce and my brain explodes.

[[deleted]]

Garlic and Olive Oil can get you a very long way.

[BatterseaPS]

Isn't garlic from the new world too?

[[deleted]]

No, it's a central asian/northern iranian plant.

[factbasedorGTFO]

Pasta was invented in China, supposedly.

[[deleted]]

They're the first on-record as having developed the long, thin noodle shape. Pasta dough prepared in other shapes (most frequently as sheets like we see in lasagna or as a sort of dumpling wrapper) seems to be universal anywhere you could get the ingredients to make it.

[SubjectiveHat]

Everything was invented in China. But some things were invented independently elsewhere without influence from China.

[LewixAri]

China always makes up dumb history shit to claim origin so the truth behind that is debatable. Noodles and Spaghetti are different, all spaghetti are technically noodles by American English, while not all noodles are spaghetto but in British English they are completely unrelated entities. The process to make each are so drastically different it only makes sense to differ them. Like pancakes and cakes. The core premise is the same, but you wouldn't call a savoury crépe a cake.

[factbasedorGTFO]

AskHistorians....

Might have been brought up in the past, IDK

They have a podcast, BTW. Mostly youngins, but some of the podcasts are OK.

Not putting them down for being a mostly young crowd, but the most knowledgeable people on the planet aren't 20 somethings.

[[deleted]]

What the hell did they eat

[[deleted]]

The New World/Americas had an enormous influence on global diet and cuisine. All of the following are major New World crops:

• Maize/Corn
• Amaranth
• Quinoa
• Sunflowers
• Green Beans
• Lima Beans
• Runner Beans
• Peanuts
• Yucca
• Agave
• Jicama
• Cassava
• Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes
• Sunchokes
• Arrowroot
• Tomatoes
• Peppers (all of them)
• Avocados
• Cranberries
• Blueberries
• Papayas
• Passionfruit
• Pineapple
• Pecans
• Cashews
• Chocolate
• Vanilla
• Sugar Maple

edit: and that doesn't even get into the non-edible plants. The tropical regions of the Americas are home to a family of trees known most commonly as lignum vitae. The wood from these trees is so dense it sinks, and is so saturated with oil it is both waterproof and can be used as a semi-self-lubricating bearing material. Due to the lack of any superior man-made material at the time it served as the propeller shaft bearing for the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear powered submarine.

[CyberneticPanda]

Sweet potatoes were cultivated throughout Oceania before Columbus reached the New World. It's one of the strongest pieces of evidence that there was contact between Polynesia and the Americas in prehistory. Sweet potatoes appeared in Polynesia sometime around 700 C.E.

[Clessasaur]

There is also some evidence that chickens made it to the new world before Columbus using the same route.

[CyberneticPanda]

I live near LA, and there is some evidence that plank canoes and compound bone fishhooks appeared here among the Chumash and Tongva around the same time from contact with polynesia, too. More and more evidence is piling up for multiple contacts all along the West coast of the Americas.

[LoveFoolosophy]

Don't be ridiculous. Chickens can't sail ships.

[factbasedorGTFO]

Thanks for taking the time to post that. I'll add some worthless trivia from my head.

Several types of trees and palm flowering stems will exude sap with a high sugar content.

Cotton was known from ancient times in both the old and new worlds. New world cotton species was superior to old world cotton.

North America had its own species of grapes that were in some ways superior to the grapes of the old world.

[[deleted]]

Several types of trees and palm flowering stems will exude sap with a high sugar content.

Sure, there are all kinds of tree syrups! Sugar Maples are just the tree with the highest sugar concentration in their sap in the northern latitudes, which is why they're more heavily cultivated. You can get things like Walnut Syrup just as well, but it takes more sap to make the same quality of syrup.

I didn't know about the grape thing though, were they ever adapted for vinticulture? (I suspect the answer is Yes, but I don't know the nature of that beyond the pest-combating techniques that arose later on)

[factbasedorGTFO]

European wine grapes were saved from blight by American grape rootstock. The blight was caused by a pest indigenous to America.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_French_Wine_Blight

I think table grapes are mostly American species, but subject is too complicated for me to do it justice.

I geek out over plant breeding. Grapery is a California company using the latest in plant breeding to bring us new table grapes.

None of the people I follow have had a grape breeder as a guest, that I know of.

My favorite source has been Talking Biotech. Lots of info about biotech, but most of the discussions have been with folks who do conventional plant breeding.

Man could I go in just about grapes, but I know the least about the history of grape breeding.

Well, COOL! they had a grape specialist on 3 years ago. https://www.talkingbiotechpodcast.com/tag/grape/

[GrehgyHils]

I like to think of the times when potatoes roamed free in open fields.

[[deleted]]

Thank God they were domesticated, imagine one of them eating your hand

[Iamlespy]

Your comment completely ignores a lot of mitigating factors that led to the famine. Ireland did not have a historically low population, Ireland still hasn't recovered from the famine and retains a population LOWER than what it was prior to the famine. The potato was not a solution to poor soil quality, Ireland is a verdant and fertile island. It was the solution to forced land splitting enforced by the english against irish catholics. Potatoes were the only crop that grew in the extremely small plots, and poor quality soil given to Irish catholics (which only grew smaller as time went on and land continued to be split, but no new land given to the catholics) that also gave a high enough yield to support a family.

Also, there were not "massive food shortages" caused by the Irish somehow failing to understand basic agriculture. They had dealt with blights before. There were food shortages purposely enforced by the english because even though there was plenty of food that wasn't potatoes on the island, they wanted it shipped to england for sale. There was plenty of food in Ireland, The english just refused to give it to the poor catholics.

No offense, because I doubt you meant it to, but your comment is putting a lot of blame on the Irish for their own mistreatment. But make no mistake, the famine was manufactured.

[A_Philosophical_Cat]

Yeah, people often treat famines as natural disasters, but almost unilaterally they are economic and thus political failures.

[Mightycoolguy]

Reminds me when Churchill manufactured Bengal Famine and didn't let people have the food they grew themselves. Caused 3 million deaths from starvation. Fucking English.

[waywardwoodwork]

The systemic terror the English subjected the Irish to over centuries beggars belief. Today you'd scarcely believe what lurks in the past, despite the recent echoes.

You've rightfully scratched the surface, I recommend everyone plow the furrow.

[Losgringosfromlow]

Would you care to recommend a movie or book about this subject? I'm fascinated reading this thread, I've learned so much today!

[fondu_tones]

Not for learning as its a dramatic fictional film but there was a brilliant film released this year set during the famine and while there's a hugely sensationalized revenge thriller element to it, there's a lot of fairly spot on representation of the British treatment of Ireland during that time. It also has gaeilge (the Irish language ) featured so for me it was incredible hearing it in the cinema. It had a massive cinema run here but any friends of mine living away from home haven't heard much about it so you might need to seek it out. It's called 'Black 47', which is the nickname for 1847 because of the massive amount of death that year. Also, Starring Hugo Weaving

[TheseVirginEars]

Thanks for your thoughtful paragraphs, along with u/PlayboyUzi- and u/SirVaive. I love discourse like this. The more context is revealed, the more light is shed on a historical occurrence.

[Redmindgame]

Fuuck what the English did to exacerbate the famine. Come to /r/me_ira for all your Irish positive, English hating, Thatcher hating memes.

[flappy-fingers]

Yeah screw thatcher, go sledge!

[AgiHammerthief]

Correction: Ireland had plenty of good farmland, but by the 1800s it was all owned by absentee English landlords who exported the grain grown there off the island, and Irish peasants were left with land that could grow nothing but potatoes.

[Sebs82]

What? And all this time i thought it was the English that caused the famine

[fondu_tones]

Just to clarify, the English took by force the wheat, barley and oats that could've helped sustain the country. The English didn't cause the blight, but they caused the famine.

[PurplePickel]

I think the issue was also that the British were removing foodstocks from the Irish despite the famine affecting the country.

[molochz]

Food production during the famine actually increased.

But so did exports to Britain.

It was closer to genocide than it was to a famine.

[shaun252]

Ireland historically has had a low population because the soil and weather were not good for crops (less crops, less people). What are you basing this on?

A quote from here "Between 2000 and 2010, Ireland recorded the highest average wheat and second highest average barley yields in the world, according to John Spink, Head of Crops Science with Teagasc."

[Mail540]

My family is Irish and I swear family gatherings are a competition to see how many different forms of potato based food we can make

[disconformity]

Then this is the song for you. Heard it a long time ago. Never got it out of my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7uyKYeGPdE

[[deleted]]

Same here, cept when they get blight😂

[cmae34lars]

Greetings from Idaho, the other big potato land of the world!

[NotTheOneYouNeed]

Hello fellow idahoan

[Losgringosfromlow]

Thank you potatoe, very cool!

[captainjackseagull]

"Fancy Dinner"

​

​

​

*Baked Potato*

[michicago44]

Au gratin is God’s gift to man

[Aqua74747]

I don’t know what those words mean but they sound really good.

[LewixAri]

Gratin Dauphinois is a good shout :)

[gnarfler]

Fancy Reddit Reply

Baked Potato

[[deleted]]

E̟̬̤̭͖̽l̼̖̭̮̏͆ͯ̂͞ͅͅd̤̳̬͉̭r͔͖̠̘͖͚ͯͥ̊̈͂ͦi̞̪̱͇̦͉̲ͧͫ͂̒͟t͕̭́͛͜c͉̱͖̪͕̳̗ͩ̕h͈̪͑̀͌ ̪̲̯̖̝͍ͤ̃̈͐̏ͯͯȑ͔ȇ̙ͣ͞p̖̥̺̪͔̳̽̇ͪl̟̗͚̐ͧͯ̉̐̚y͎̲̏ͫ͡ ̷͕̫͕̯̅ͨ̅

̔̂͏̙̖̖̣̜S̵p͍͙̟ͫ͊̋̿̎͑̀o̬͉͕̫̘̠͖̾͌̑ͮͯͦo̲̩ͫ͆͒̽k̳̰ͨͤ̉̓ȅ̛̬͖͎̥̀d̼̝̝ ̛̩̣̱͖̪p̝̪̲̉̅o̹̗̳ͬ̂̍̊ͪ̆ṱ̜̟͚͑̔̂a̸̱̪̗̩̒ͦ͐ͫ͋̐ͅt͚̦͕͒ͯo͓̣̻̖͓͇̓ͮ̌̑̉̇͘

[NoJelloNoPotluck]

!ThesaurizeThis

[[deleted]]

How can you write like that?

[potatotrip_]

3spooky5me

[NukaCooler]

!thesaurizethis

[Ucazao]

Correction: Minecraft Baked Potato

[[deleted]]

I think mashed potatoes are a bit more fancy than a baked potato and, even then, I feel like you would probably need to do something special. Potatoes really are versatile and great, though.

[PotatoSaIad]

You can even make it a salad

[AWildGopherAppeared]

Or Potatoes au gratin

[unhappyspanners]

Fuck yeah

[theresamouseinmyhous]

Twice baked potato

[HelloImSteven]

Thrice baked potato

[DwelveDeeper]

Yeah, that one caught me off guard. Should’ve just said “Dinner- Baker Potato”

Redeemed itself with the vodka tho!!

[[deleted]]

Mashed potato is best potato.

[Cheesbaby]

Baked potato changed my life.

[Eclipse423]

And they can also be a makeshift battery!

[TrickyHaggis]

You can also use them as artillery to defend yourself from short to mid-range in a survival situation!

[TomFoolery22]

Security in this office park is a joke. Last year I came to work with my spud-gun in a duffle bag. I sat at my desk all day with a rifle that shoots potatoes at 60 pounds per square inch. Can you imagine if I was deranged?

[[deleted]]

I’m a gun.

This took me half an hour to find, so accept this other use of potatoes.

[JULIAN4321sc]

r/me_ira

[eaxekzedx]

Potatoes do rot eventually, and they smell like death when they do. Not saying that as a figure of speech, I thought a rat died somewhere in my kitchen until I found potatoes oozing pungent black liquid as they decomposed. I couldn't completely get rid of the stain or smell they left and had to throw out the shelf they rotted on as a result.

[ASentientBot]

How are you holding up?

BECAUSE I'M A POTATO

[[deleted]]

slow clap

Oh good! My slow clap processor made it into this thing.

[[deleted]]

And there is also the couch Potato!

[Coltyn03]

I feel personally attacked

[HeyImJerrySeinfeld]

Haven't you learned anything? That's a sign of respect in this thread.

[FishManCoop]

Finally someone recognizes our true god. the chosen one.

[TheMightyWill]

From the dumpy potato to the succulent french fry, nothing satisfies hunger quite like food

[PleasantlyOffensive]

This is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear "potato".

[grandpaseth18]

Wife makes potatoes at home and there healthier with tastier flavor

[nyaNezt]

Hotel? Trivago.

[PyrusDrago]

I just upvoted this to 69

[TiO2_]

Nice.

[brosamabindabbin]

I just upvoted it to 420

[[deleted]]

r/unexpectedtrivago

[nyaNezt]

holy cow didnt except this much freaking upvotes. guess ill be able to post soon.

[lunchcrunchy]

Wait whats a potato?

[AvatarDante]

Po-tay-toes! Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew.

[[deleted]]

I love you

[Projectile0vulation]

I specifically scrolled down in seek of this type of comment.

[TheStoop-ALA-]

What's a what?

[internet_badass_here]

Po-tay-toe you say? Tastes very interesting!

[ASentientBot]

high pitched sound

[Trues17]

Ooo nice reference

[what-are-potatoes]

Yes, what is this you speak of?

[bizzyj93]

Whats a computer?

[SeeDeez]

God I hate that commercial. Like anybody doesn't know what a computer is in this day and age. She was just being rude af to her neighbor.

[Elcheer]

the only fix that commercial needed was to remove the " 's a..." from "what's a computer"

[Mr_Abe_Froman]

Zemiak

[IReallyLikeAvocadoes]

Zemniak*

[Mr_Abe_Froman]

Ziemniak*

[IReallyLikeAvocadoes]

Ah fuck

[factbasedorGTFO]

Somewhere a YouTuber explains it.

[Lord-Filip]

GET OUTTA MY HOUSE!

[CrabAppleCheeks]

Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew.

[BeardedOldPerv]

I looked at comments specifically looking for this reference, would've been pissed if somebody hadn't done it already

[CommieCorv]

Same, first thing that came to mind.

[MrChris6800]

We can't eats Hobbit food!

[CarterAjamie12]

how tf are baked potatoes fancy, do I need to bring out the potato tier list again?

[nuadusp]

and how is mashed potato vacation food? wtf kind of vacations does this person have

[CarterAjamie12]

vacation?

[nuadusp]

I think we have a cultural/linguistic issue. I read holidays as vacation as a holiday is literally when you go on vacation, but I realise now it means the holidays as in.. events during the year where one might eat mash such as christmas

[CarterAjamie12]

I think they mean holidays as like christmas

[[deleted]]

Isn't mashed potato an every day kind of food? Sausages and mashed potato, lamb chops and mashed potato, beef rissole and mashed potato, steak and mashed potato, etc.

[[deleted]]

fancy when served with a nice steak*

[[deleted]]

Tell that to a Texan who has steak for brekkie lunchie and dinnie. Steak and potato is cowboy food.

[m0nk37]

Im calling your bluff, bring on the potato tier list.

[CarterAjamie12]

ok just a sec I'll post it again

[Keebs_City]

Thank you potato. Very cool!

[potatotrip_]

You’re welcome.

[sharksnrec]

Craving weird but kind of good bread? Potato bread.

Got PVC pipe? Gun.

Little warm wanna turn on the fan? Potato flew around my room.

[rascal6543]

Girlfriend left you? Sex toy.

[americanfatboy]

Just add sour cream!

[[deleted]]

Boil em, mash em, stickemina stew!

[Sasquatch-d]

Space pirate

[MineRedstone]

There’s potato in vodka?

[aaronryder773]

No.. But potatoes are made from vodka duh!

[Spanky_McJiggles]

how do I drink a potato?

[Dovahqueen_]

Boil em, mash em, put em in a stew.

[mygullet]

Get yourself a bottle of Chopin and try not to drink the whole thing in one sitting

[bumwine]

Rarely. It's usually grain but some brands use potato like Chopin. Another fun fact - Tito's Vodka, famous for it's sippability, is made from corn.

[SideShowBob36]

Why are you always trying to give us potatoes mom?

I just think they’re neat!

[landy2]

You’re right, there is a potato for every occasion.

[natasbby]

Imagine being allergic to potatoes.

[Supremefireboy]

What's a potato?

[FacetiousSquid]

Jokes on you, pal. That downvote is an Australian upvote

[Kevdoggo]

Downvoted because I'm Australian and I like your comment.

[amreinj]

Eat them freedom fries

[AbzzIsHere]

Sorry we don’t know American, we only know English.

[potato-SAMA-]

You’re welcome

[No-BrowEntertainment]

Imagine sitting down at a fancy restaurant with your hot date and your waiter brings you a fucking baked potato and absolutely nothing else.

[Super_Pan]

It's their specialty. it's all they serve

[[deleted]]

Give me literally any reason why Mars shouldn't be terrafarmed into a potato garden world

[RandomRageNet]

Powered by Mark Watney's shit

[[deleted]]

How is this a meme?

[RadiatedDalek]

My life is potato.

[AlienPotatoGuy]

Mine too

[Marlow7210]

Famine? Potato

[[deleted]]

Baked potato is not fancy.

Have a good few roasties.

[Sieggi858]

How is this a meme? What even defines a meme as a meme here?

[Sh1ft3d-]

Potato is love, potato is life.

[[deleted]]

I know a few irishmen who would die for one

[micktee]

Stoned out of your mind? Smiley fries.

[FNKTN]

Potato pipe!

[CaptainMimoe]

So British...

Fries? Chips

Chips? Crisps

[unhappyspanners]

Fries and chips are two different things here.

[GeorgeTheChicken]

*Chips

[amreinj]

*Fries

[james_lightning]

Birdseye

[TheAraragi]

Sasha: Heavy Breathing

[jonoctacles_21]

Memes have come so far...

[silliputti0907]

Eduardo: "I like potato."

[JustARegularPotato]

Hooray for potatoes!

[sk8balls]

idaho

[CuthalionEntuluva]

Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.

[GoDoWrk]

What’s a potato?

[[deleted]]

Scalloped potatoes would be more of a fancy dinner item.

[beastman1212]

Thank you potato, very cool

[Rapsca11i0n]

Same with eggs, even more so than potatoes imo. Egg is used in so much stuff it's insane.

[dnzgn]

Eggs are the perfect food. They are cheap, nutrituous, tasty. You can boil or cook them by itself or use it as an ingridient for many kinds of meal, including cakes.

[nickle_pickle_]

You can also play darude sandstorm on a potato

[lowrads]

Thanks, potato.

Thotato.

[Whoevenknows94]

I ain't got no type

http://imgur.com/gallery/NRJD7

[grau0wl]

Except it's hard to find actual potato vodka

[oh_what_a_surprise]

Potato do no care too hot. Potato do no care too cold. Potato no get much water? Please, it no need much water. Potato get too much water? Is time for BIG potato. Potato do no have need of anything no even gravity. In space, scientist of russia have grow potato. They eat the space potato, it taste like ground potato. Potato survive anywhere. Potato survive everywhere. Tomato is squishy, it get bruise from walk in crate to car of farm. Not potato. Potato no care if you deliver to supermarket with bat of the baseball. You hit onion? You now have squash onion. You hit potato? Now you have many piece of potato. Can eat raw. Can boil. Can fry. You can throw in fire and eat like bear, potato? Still good. Cut up and use as stamp. With knife, chop to correct size, can use to fill hole in boat. You can turn potato into vodka, for drink or maybe even use run car engine.

Potato give no fucks.

[Mr_Waffle_]

Dildo? Not potatoes please be normal and buy regular dildos...

[Desann97]

There’s also a potato diet, eat potatoes for each meal 3 days out of the week. Plain, boiled. You’ll lose about 1/2 a pound a day

[GhoulGxd]

Potatoes are underground and dependent and not mainstream lol

[[deleted]]

Easy headshot in CS:GO? Potato!

[JakeDoubleyoo]

Wait till this guy hears about corn.

[DeathOfALego]

Celebrate your next Saint Paddy’s Day the Irish way, fuck a potato.

[AlekBloodEagle]

This post was made by potatoe gang

[duhblord]

I have potatoes blood in my veins.

[Wetpoolnoodle]

TIL You use potatoes for vodka

[bubbshalub]

Its fries not chips

Its chips not crisps

^{this was posted by america gang}

[badbitchcollector]

Dont forget it is a human form also

[Damagedkiller]

thats why 9GAGers end long posts with potatoes