In 1996 the United States hit peak potato. Americans have been consuming 64 kilos of the greens annually—greater than at any level since trendy information started in 1970. A record-breaking harvest had flooded the nation with so many spuds that the authorities needed to pay farmers to present them away. In the White House, the Clintons have been foisting potatoes—fried, marinated, boiled, garlicked—onto princesses and presidents at official dinners.
“It was a crazy time,” says Chris Voigt, whose lengthy profession as a potato-pusher began in the potato frenzy of the late Nineteen Nineties. “Literally you could buy buckets of french fries.” But as Voigt made his means up in the potato trade, all the method to govt director of the Washington State Potato Commission, the American potato was present process a dramatic shift in fortunes.
The common American is now consuming 30 % fewer potatoes than throughout the vegetable’s heyday, right down to an all-time low of 45 kilos per 12 months. The drop in consumption of recent potatoes—for boiling, roasting, mashing, and steaming—has been even sooner. In 2019, frozen potato consumption overtook recent potatoes for the first time, opening up a gulf that has continued to widen since the pandemic. Most of these frozen potatoes are eaten as french fries.
This has seen potato fields turn into battlegrounds for the way forward for meals in America. In December 2023, stories emerged that US dietary pointers may change to declassify potatoes as a vegetable, mirroring the strategy taken in Britain. There was such an uproar that US Department of Agriculture secretary Thomas Vilsack was compelled to jot down a letter reassuring senators that his company had no such plans.
That reclassification might have failed, however the potato has had a spectacular fall from grace. Once this miraculous nutrient-dense vegetable was the gasoline of human civilization. Now the spud in the US has turn into synonymous with a rubbish, industrialized meals system that pours earnings right into a handful of firms at the expense of individuals’s well being.
America’s favourite vegetable is dealing with a Sophie’s Choice second. Should we settle for that recent spuds have misplaced the combat in opposition to the tide of fries, hash browns, and waffles, or is there hope for a potato renaissance? Can the humble spud obtain the rehabilitation it deserves?
The white potato is a criminally underrated meals. Compared with different carb-loaded staples like pasta, white bread, or rice, potatoes are wealthy in vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. They’re additionally surprisingly excessive in protein. If you hit your day by day calorie purpose by consuming solely potatoes, then you definitely’d additionally exceed your day by day purpose for protein, which is 56 grams for a person aged 31–50.
Chris Voigt is aware of this as a result of for 60 days in 2010 he ate nothing however potatoes. And slightly oil. And one time some pickle juice. But the level is, for 2 months Voigt didn’t simply survive on potatoes, he thrived. By the finish of his eating regimen Voigt had misplaced 21 kilos, his ldl cholesterol was down 41 %, and he’d stopped loud night breathing. “I think I’ve personally proven that the potato is highly nutritious, no matter how you eat—whether you boil it or fry it, cook it in the oven, or steam it,” Voigt says.