Food and Drink Atlas

How The World Eats
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Potato

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A starchy tuber domesticated in the Andean highlands of present-day Peru and Bolivia, carried to Europe after the sixteenth-century Columbian Exchange and, from there, to the rest of the world; still a foundation of Peruvian and Andean cuisine, with thousands of native varieties grown in the Andes today.

Facts
Disputed
Earliest Documented Use, From (Year)
from 8000 BCE 2
Sourced to the subject's own accountA more precisely dated anchor exists alongside this broad genetic-domestication estimate: the earliest archaeologically verified potato tuber remains, at the coastal site of Ancon in central Peru, date to 2500 BC, a firmer single point than the range this fact records.
Earliest Documented Use, To (Year)
to 5000 BCE 2
Sourced to the subject's own accountClosing bound of the same 7,000 to 10,000 years ago domestication estimate; see the start-year note for the firmer 2500 BC archaeological anchor at Ancon.
Origin Region
The Andean highlands of Peru and Bolivia 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Used By

British Cuisine, Cuisines

Potato became a British staple after its introduction from the Americas.

German Cuisine, Cuisines

Potato is central to German home cooking.

Lomo Saltado, Dishes
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson
Sources
1. The Oxford Companion to Food
Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press, 2014
2. Potato (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistory, Domestication section
Quote, History, Domestication section
Potatoes were domesticated there about 7,000-10,000 years ago from a species in the S. brevicaule complex.
View the Source
British Cuisine (Wikipedia)
WikipediaUsed By: British CuisineView the Source
German Cuisine (Wikipedia)
WikipediaUsed By: German CuisineView the Source

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