Rachel Laudan on the History of Food and Cuisine
EconTalk
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The History of the Potato
The potato is one of the series of roots that can be cooked into edible food. Roots have always been of less interest to civilised societies because they're so wet and heavy. For anyone who lives in a settled society with cities, root eating is a sign of basically being more like animals. The poor of Europe had to be bludgeoned into adopting the potato in the 17th and 18th century.
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