Bookgeeks is pleased to welcome our newest reviewer, Sam, with a review of a book that explores the history of one of our most ubiquitous foodstuffs.

A fascinating example of world history as focused on one object, in the same genre as Cod and The Pencil. In fact after reading this book its hard not to relate the whole existence of the industrial revolution, western dominance – in short world history – to the humble potato. But this is the joy and the problem with this genre; in the end everything is seen through the ‘eyes’ of the potato. To be fair to Reader, he is always at pains to say that the potato is not the cause but one of many factors in such occasions.

The book is laid out in a thoroughly logical, largely historical, order and doesn’t jump around too much. In its way this structure is made easier by the actual path of the potato through history –  its influence jumps from continent to continent in fairly linear order. The book can be seen in several stages – discovery in South America, Europe’s discovery and take-up, the Irish Potato famine and the attempts to quell Late Blight, the modern era of farming. But again Reader is a pro at keeping late blight and the Irish Potato Famine as a watermark – disease and control of the potato diseases are harly ever mentioned before the mid-section of the book.

What the potato has ‘seen’, and has been part of is ultimately fascinating. The potato is the most efficient way of feeding populations in areas normally inhospitable to cereal crops. The potato has kept poorer communities alive when there was no other option. As such the potato has been an unwitting tool of the capitalist masters, from the mines of Conquistador Mexico, to the industrial revolution powerhouse of Manchester, to, famously, Ireland under rule by the British. This how the Irish Potato Famine was allowed to happen and why its results were catastrophic for a people who had only one food. Absent English landowners kept most of the crops for export; the potato was the only thing left for the Irish to eat. Couple this with the fact that the potato is a nourishing food which makes for healthy people – so healthy that the population swelled – the crop failure was catastrophic.

The story of the successive attempts to find the source of the disease, the miasma-esque false leads and obstinate ideas of those in charge is equally gripping. That our primary source of food is not cured one bit of late blight is a worry, as is the vast amounts of agri-chemicals needed to keep it at bay. The potato as we know it needs us just as much as we need it.

The book ends with China which is of course turning to McDonalds and the potato for a rapidly growing proportion of its food. The potato is a necessity for the growing population but also a sign of development, of Western-ness, of wealth.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book – the chapters just about the right length for one session, the logic of the history ultimately compelling. My one issue, and here standard book reviewers will scream, is the really boring cover. As a designer I can think of many more interesting pictures, layouts etc than this rather slapped on effort. People do judge books by their covers – I certainly do. Lets have some love for the humble potato (jacket).

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