Radio Australia Today Editorial

Potato. The Saviour of the World?

29 April 2008

Today we spoke with Charlie Crissman from the International Potato Centre (yes there is one) in Peru.

You may not be aware that 2008 is the United Nastions-sponsored Year of the Potato.

Therefore the question may well be asked: What’s all this fuss about the potato? It doesn’t have the culinary excitement of the custard apple, the contentiousness of the durian, the exclusivity of the truffle, the sweet joyfulness of the avocado, or the physical presence of..anything really.

This imitation of an oval moon does have an important function though. With the increases in the price of rice and with rice shortages around the world, Charlie Crissman says that potatoes have the nutritional capability to replace rice. Not on a permanent scale, but as a fill-in until things in the rice world are sorted out. If you want to hear the interview with the ebullient Mr Crissman, it’s on the Breakfast Club homepage for the next couple of weeks.

The thing that impresses most about potatoes as a potential staple is the fact that it takes a fraction of the water to produce a kilo of potatoes than it does to grow a kilo of rice. With water being an environmental concern of this century, this could be significant.

Kids also love ‘em. As fries. As mash. As potato scollops. As Mr Potato Head…

Potatoes. Apparently they’re the way to go.