Potatoes!By Andrea Naft

Eating would be boring if we didn’t have the wonderful foods introduced to the world

by the Natives of North and South America :

Squash Vanilla Corn

TomatoesPeanuts Strawberries

And….

Potatoes

Where do

potatoes come from?

It is believed that the

potato began many 1000’s of years ago

in the highlands of

Peru and Chile in South

America

How do potatoes grow?

Underground!

These Native Peruvian women are harvesting potatoes from the earth.

What can you observe about the setting and the dress of these

women?

It is believed the ancient natives of South America, the Incas, grew and ate potatoes 13,000 years ago. Potatoes were such an important food to them, that they buried potatoes with their dead, stored them, dried them, and put them in stews.

Inca drawing of a farmerharvesting potatoes.

The planting and use of the potato spread to other tribes over thousands of years. Finally the potato reached Mexico. After it was introduced to the Spanish explorers, it arrived in North America and Europe where it became a very popular food in many countries.

Did you know there are hundreds of varieties of

potatoes?

Here are just a few samples:

The next time you eat a potato, think of its interesting history and importance to the world.