Following the potato from its early cultivation in 16th-century South America to its 20th-century marriage to battered fish, this social history covers developments in agriculture, class, diet, politics, economics, and technology. For two centuries after the potato's arrival in Europe it was regarded as poison fit only for pigs. Yet, the author suggests, the potato's impact on world history became as striking as that of the railway or the car. The text draws on personal diaries, chronicles, newspaper editorials and government records to bring this story to life.
- ISBN10 0571199518
- ISBN13 9780571199518
- Publish Date 1 November 2000 (first published 21 May 1999)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 15 August 2012
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Faber & Faber
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 304
- Language English