The Potato‘s Global Journey
The potato, native to the South American Andes, began its global influence in the 16th century after Spanish contact with the Inca Empire. Spanish explorers brought the tuber back to Europe, where it was first cultivated on a large scale in the Canary Islands and Spain in the 1570s. By the end of the 1500s, the potato had spread to Italy, England, Ireland, and beyond.
This unassuming crop would go on to transform European agriculture, diets, demographics and ultimately politics in ways no one could have imagined. Potatoes provided far more calories and nutrition per acre than grains, enabling population growth. Armies marched on potatoes. Rural populations survived on potatoes. The Irish especially embraced the potato, sowing the seeds for disaster when a fungal blight struck in the 1840s, causing a devastating famine.
By the dawn of the 20th century, the potato was deeply entrenched in European food culture. Statistics show the scale:
| Country | Annual Per Capita Potato Consumption (kg) in 1900 |
|---|---|
| Germany | 271 |
| Poland | 243 |
| Ireland | 140 |
| Russia | 133 |
| France | 127 |
| UK | 105 |
Source: Salaman, Redcliffe N. "The History and Social Influence of the Potato", 1949
Patriotic Potatoes in World War I
When World War I erupted in 1914, the European belligerents needed to feed massive conscripted armies while also maintaining civilian morale. Potatoes, with their high yields and nutritional value, were the perfect war crop.
Governments promoted the potato as a patriotic food. In Germany, the War Food Office and Imperial Potato Office managed potato distribution and prices. Propaganda posters proclaimed "Kartoffeln sind Kraftoffeln" (Potatoes are Power) and "Esst mehr Kartoffeln!" (Eat More Potatoes!).
But in the turnip winter of 1916-17, potato and turnip shortages hit Germany hard. Civilians subsisted on thin potato gruel and turnips as the nation buckled. Erich Maria Remarque wrote in "All Quiet on the Western Front" how the fictional German soldier Paul Bäumer dreamt constantly of "mound after mound of mashed potato" in the trenches.
After WWI, the bitter memory of potato lines and starvation shaped German policy. Wary of repeating the mistakes that led to the collapse of the Kaiser‘s government, the Nazi regime made achieving food security a top priority as another war loomed.
The Potato as Hero and Villain in World War II
World War II took the potato‘s military and political significance to new heights. In Britain, "Potato Pete" became the jolly cartoon face of the government‘s "Dig for Victory!" garden campaign. Potato production doubled, keeping stomachs full during rationing and the U-boat blockade.
Credit: Imperial War Museums (Art.IWM PST 6027)
For the Nazis, the potato was the ideal food for the "Master Race." Gardening advice, recipes, and a quota system promoted self-sufficiency. Annual consumption surged from 12 million to 32 million tons over the course of the war. The Reich Potato Variety List narrowed down approved types from 1,500 to just 74. Even potatoes had to be Aryan-certified.
On the American homefront, a patriotic pamphlet declared:
"Eat potatoes with their starch,
help the fighters on their march.
Each baked potato that you eat
will help to fill the ships with wheat.
Eat potatoes, save the wheat,
drive the Kaiser to defeat."
But while potatoes were sustaining the Allies and Axis, they took on a more sinister role in the brutal Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe. The Germans seized Ukraine‘s potato harvest, with little to spare for the local population. Potatoes became entangled with the systematic starvation of "undesirable" groups and prisoners. In the Warsaw Ghetto, desperate Jews risked their lives to steal potatoes from the surrounding countryside.
In the Soviet Union, potatoes were a lifeline amidst upheaval and destruction. With farms and infrastructure ravaged, collective auxiliary plots churned out tubers to stave off hunger. In 1944, these small garden allotments produced over 2.6 million tons of potatoes – enough to provide 250 precious extra calories per day to 25 million workers.
Potato Innovation Becomes a Cold War Front
The wartime drive to maximize potato production and shelf life unleashed a wave of scientific innovation that carried into the postwar era. Teams in the U.S. and U.K. raced to perfect dehydrated potato flakes that were lightweight, long-lasting, and easily reconstituted – ideal for military rations.
As the Cold War standoff replaced World War II, potatoes became proxies for superpower competition. The Soviets touted higher potato yields than the Americans, while the U.S. smugly asserted the superiority of capitalist potato products like chips and instant mashed potatoes.
The Potato‘s Lasting Legacy
No other food can claim to have done so much to shape the modern world as the potato. Since its humble origins in the Andes, this rugged tuber has altered the course of empires, demographics, and political destinies. It has literally been a hidden weapon of war.
Ironically, a crop from the New World was a major factor in the bloody conflicts of the Old World half a millennium later. The potato is perhaps history‘s ultimate "disruptive technology" – a seeming novelty that quietly and completely revolutionized societies and economies before suddenly revealing its true power.
And the potato‘s influence endures. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a new generation has turned to planting potatoes for sustenance and solace in an uncertain time, even as the tuber itself faces headwinds from shuttered restaurants. Once again, the potato mirrors the state of the world.
Through famines and wars, the potato has been both a villain and a hero, but always an indispensable protagonist in the human story. It has brought out the worst in us, from colonial exploitation to wartime deprivation, but also the best – our resilience and ingenuity in the face of adversity. The potato was not just the taste of World War II, but the taste of modernity itself, in all its bitterness and hope.
