Peruvians Think Potatoes Are Tubular, Hope You Will Too

Peruvians just love their potatoes. They even have festivals dedicated to the terrific tubers and an entire year devoted to celebrating them:

Like many people, I took the humble spud for granted, but after the launch of the UN Year of the Potato in Ayacucho in the Peruvian Andes, I am repentant at my lack of reverence for the third biggest food staple in the world.

As well you should be, asswipe. Come, let’s get an eye-full at the wonderfultastic world the Peruvian potato:

[I]nternationally high food prices, especially wheat - 80% of which is imported in Peru - are causing hardship for the country’s poor, who make up almost half the population.

Peru’s agriculture minister, Ismael Benavides, says the native potato is the answer.

The government is trying to boost its consumption by encouraging more people to eat bread baked with potato flour [Ed. note: It's yummy.], starting with schoolchildren and prisoners.

“When I went to the UN in October to launch the International Year of the Potato somebody from an Eastern European country, Ukraine I think, said to me ‘I didn’t realise that potatoes came from Peru’. That showed me that we had to claim our place,” Mr Benavides said at the festival.

“The potato is very important in the diet worldwide and in this age of rising commodity prices… a number of countries, such as China and India, are looking to double or triple their production.”

Well this sounds like more just a…. half-baked idea to us. Zing! Potatoes! Saving the world one spud at a time.

Yeah, it’s a slow news day. Why do you ask?

Peru’s potato passion goes global [BBC]