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The British took a very long time to adopt potatoes into their regular diet – the vegetable first arrived in the country in the sixteenth century. It was said that the population were suspicious of a vegetable from the deadly nightshade family; 1/7
indeed, apart from the tuber itself, all other parts of the plant do contain the poison solanine (even a green potato can contain significant amounts of this substance) It was only in the 18th century that the potato became more commonly eaten 2/7
and by the 19th century it had become a staple of the diet providing some sections of society, particularly the working classes, with more than 10% of their calorie intake. 3/7
It has been said that the potato underpinned the industrial revolution by providing cheap and nourishing food for the ever expanding workforce of factories, particularly in the north of England. 4/7
Friedrich Engels even declared that the potato was the equal of iron for its "historically revolutionary role" 5/7
In the twenty first century, with all-year-round access to food from all over the world, we forget that in the past many foods, including potatoes were only available at certain times of the year. There was also a market for the new potatoes we still prize today. 6/7
The street hawkers who sold potatoes for part of year clearly had to find a different product to sell from May to July and many, would turn to strawberries and other early fruits that were in season during those months. We will look at the fruit sellers next Wednesday. 7/7
