Mention potatoes in the United States and most people immediately think of Idaho, where more than a quarter of the country's crop is produced. In Europe, Ireland and its famine or Poland and its vodkas come to mind. But nowhere is prouder of its potatoes than Peru, where they were domesticated more than 7,000 years ago. The country is home to up to 3,500 different varieties of edible tubers, according to the International Potato Centre, whose headquarters are near Lima.
The Peruvian government has joined forces with the potato centre to organise an international roadshow to promote the spud, starting this month. Apart from a giant foam-rubber model of a potato, the roadshow will include demonstrations of recipes by leading chefs.
But perhaps the propaganda should start at home. Many Peruvians eat more rice than potatoes;the country even imports frozen chips for use in fast-food restaurants. Only 25 varieties are grown commercially in Peru. Domestic consumption of spuds is about 90 kilos (200lb) per head a year, according to Ismael Benavides, the agriculture minister. That is barely a quarter as much as Belarusians, the world's champion potato-eaters, manage to chomp through. Nowadays Peru produces only 3.3m tonnes a year, or barely 1% of world output. “Peru needs to re-identify with the potato, because we have turned our back on it for too long,” says Mr García.
