Beefy Potatoes

Many researchers believe that the potato’s arrival in northern Europe spelled an end to famine there. Corn, another American crop, played a similar but smaller role in southern Europe. More than that, as the historian William H. McNeill has argued, the potato led to empire, “By feeding rapidly growing populations, permitted a handful of European nations to assert dominion over most of the world between 1750 and 1950.” The potato, in other words, fueled the rise of the West.

Microwave Baked Potato

Mashed, baked or made into French fries, many people often think of the potato as a comfort food. 

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

Many researchers believe that the potato’s arrival in northern Europe spelled an end to famine there. Corn, another American crop, played a similar but smaller role in southern Europe. More than that, as the historian William H. McNeill has argued, the potato led to empire, “By feeding rapidly growing populations, permitted a handful of European nations to assert dominion over most of the world between 1750 and 1950.” The potato, in other words, fueled the rise of the West.

Crusty Roasted Potatoes

When potato plants bloom, they send up five lobed flowers that spangle fields like fat purple stars. Marie Antoinette liked the blossoms so much that she put them in her hair. Her husband, Louis XVI, put one in his buttonhole, inspiring a brief vogue in which the French aristocracy swanned around with potato plants on their clothes. Flowers were part of an attempt to persuade French farmers to plant and French diners to eat this strange new species.

Cheesy Ranch Potatoes

Weather grilled, roasted, baked, fried or mashed, people often call potatoes comfort food. Potatoes, number one vegetable crop in the world.

Cheesy Baked Potatoes

In Texas, large, stuffed baked potatoes may be served as an entree, usually filled with meat, cheese, bacon bits.