WEBVTT - Are Potatoes Dangerous?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Part Time Genius, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Guess What Mango?

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<v Speaker 3>What's that?

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<v Speaker 2>Will? All right? So I know we both love mister

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<v Speaker 2>potato Head. At least I remember that you loved mister

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<v Speaker 2>potato Head. Did you remember that I loved mister potato head?

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<v Speaker 3>I did not remember that at all.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, big fan, big. And you know who invented mister

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<v Speaker 2>potato Head. It was George Lerner, created back in nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>forty nine. Uh huh.

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<v Speaker 1>So my favorite thing about mister potato heead was that

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<v Speaker 1>it was initially just a bag of like face parts,

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<v Speaker 1>and kids would supply their own potatoes to jab these

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<v Speaker 1>face parts into it.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, that is exactly right. You could use any like

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<v Speaker 2>use your imagination here. You could use carrots, turnips, or

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<v Speaker 2>really any root vegetable that you wanted, But potatoes were chosen.

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<v Speaker 2>This was interesting. Actually I didn't know exactly why. But one,

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<v Speaker 2>they're cheap. Of course, they were affordable, and they were

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<v Speaker 2>available year round on plus, I guess you could argue

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<v Speaker 2>they're funnier they're mister turnip head, but I don't know that.

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<v Speaker 2>It seems debatable. But the craze then took off when

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<v Speaker 2>Hasbro made this big TV commercial for the product, and

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<v Speaker 2>they sold it was something like four million dollars worth

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<v Speaker 2>of these toy parts within a few months. Now, that

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<v Speaker 2>was a fortune then. And the interesting thing though, is

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<v Speaker 2>that mister potato Head actually wasn't the first potato toy

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<v Speaker 2>on the market.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't know if you knew this, I did not

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<v Speaker 3>know that what was before it.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, it was the first with three D pieces, so

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<v Speaker 2>they added a D to what was being done out

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<v Speaker 2>there in the world. It was competing with these these

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<v Speaker 2>potato head toys at the time that were using two

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<v Speaker 2>D pieces, like more like paper product type stuff, and

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<v Speaker 2>so you would stick these just onto the vegetable. But

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<v Speaker 2>what's interesting is that in nineteen thirty one, this was

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<v Speaker 2>a full eighteen years earlier, So think about this, like

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<v Speaker 2>potato toy technology was not fully evolved yet. But the

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<v Speaker 2>Soviet Union, of course they had to be first. They

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<v Speaker 2>launched this guide for kids on how to play with potatoes.

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<v Speaker 2>So basically it was like this. It was a pretty

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<v Speaker 2>delightful guide on how you could use a pen knife

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<v Speaker 2>and match sticks and you could turn a bunch of

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<v Speaker 2>potatoes into these little playthings. And so there's this illustration

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<v Speaker 2>on how to make two little potato kids and have

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<v Speaker 2>them see song on this bigger potato. And then there

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<v Speaker 2>was another one on how to turn five or six

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<v Speaker 2>potatoes into a race car with a tiny potato driver,

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<v Speaker 2>or this little potato man walking his potato pig on

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<v Speaker 2>a string leash. It honestly is a pretty delightful guide.

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<v Speaker 2>So but but you know, seeing this charming guide made

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<v Speaker 2>me think of how much joy potatoes bring the world.

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<v Speaker 2>Whether it's ridiculous Soviet sculptures, this is not. This is

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<v Speaker 2>real magna potatoes. There's now more than ever we need

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<v Speaker 2>potatoes to bring the world joy, or a bag of

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<v Speaker 2>supersized fries, which I know you and I are both

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<v Speaker 2>big fans of.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't know if you remember this.

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<v Speaker 2>In college when you thought you were a vegetarian and

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<v Speaker 2>yet then you realize that the potatoes had been cooked

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<v Speaker 2>in animal fat. But but I thought we'd make a

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<v Speaker 2>whole show about potatoes.

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<v Speaker 3>I am all about this. Let's dive in.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm

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<v Speaker 2>Will Pearson, and as always I'm joined by my good

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<v Speaker 2>friend mangesh Hot Ticketer on the other side of that

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<v Speaker 2>soundproof glass wearing a shirt that says in my readings,

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<v Speaker 2>I think it says over haters. Is that what it says? Yes,

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know what that means, but I love it

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<v Speaker 2>and I feel like I need one as well. That's

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<v Speaker 2>our good pal, Ramsey. So so Mango, what's up this week?

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<v Speaker 1>So I want to apologize to the listeners for this tease.

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<v Speaker 1>We had a few I guess like a month ago

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<v Speaker 1>or months ago, and thank them for being so patient

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<v Speaker 1>because you and I got to make an episode right

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<v Speaker 1>before my dad passed away, and my dad just loved

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<v Speaker 1>it and he listened for the hospital. And you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I had every intention of just plombing through and turning

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<v Speaker 1>the show weekly again. But your parents are incredible and

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<v Speaker 1>we are just so lucky, Like both our parents were

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<v Speaker 1>so important and giving us love and support, and we

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<v Speaker 1>got to go to this incredible college and then we

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<v Speaker 1>chose the dumbest possible career.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I still love this and I'm.

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<v Speaker 3>Just so grateful that we get to do this. So

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<v Speaker 3>thank you for making time this.

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<v Speaker 1>Week to talk about potatoes whatever diculous topics.

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<v Speaker 3>So, yeah, where do you want to start?

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<v Speaker 1>Do you want to talk about how the universe might

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<v Speaker 1>be shaped like a Pringle ship, or how the Alaskan

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<v Speaker 1>gold Rush during it, desperate miners used to actually trade

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<v Speaker 1>gold for potatoes because it was so nutritious, or what.

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<v Speaker 2>Are you going to start with these? That's there's some

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<v Speaker 2>good teases there I feel like should be considered. But

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<v Speaker 2>I'm actually gonna start with a fact about France back

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<v Speaker 2>in then seventeen hundreds, when the potato mango it was

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<v Speaker 2>actually declared illegal. Okay, yep. So potatoes came to Europe

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<v Speaker 2>by way of the Spaniards, who themselves had brought the

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<v Speaker 2>vegetables back from the Inca Empire in South America, of course,

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<v Speaker 2>and immediately there's this real distrust of the vegetables. Distrust Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>I mean partially because potatoes are not mentioned in the Bible.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know if you know this fact, and partially

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<v Speaker 2>because they grow underground, so people are weirdly suspicious of

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<v Speaker 2>them and at the time they're mostly fed to pigs.

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<v Speaker 1>Wait wait wait, yeah, yes, so you've done like a

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<v Speaker 1>word search and found that potatoes aren't aren't found in

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<v Speaker 1>the Bible.

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<v Speaker 2>That they are not. No, I did the full search. No,

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<v Speaker 2>I actually just read through it. I should have done

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<v Speaker 2>a search all, but I just kind of read through

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<v Speaker 2>the whole thing didn't find it once. So anyway, basically

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<v Speaker 2>nobody will touch these things, even hungry commoners. And then

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<v Speaker 2>potatoes get blamed for things like when leprosy spreads, of

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<v Speaker 2>course everybody blames it on the potatoes. In all this mayhem,

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<v Speaker 2>the French Parliament decides to ban the vegetable. Now, this

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<v Speaker 2>was around seventeen forty eight, and the potato is actually

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<v Speaker 2>banned until seventeen seventy two, So good, twenty four years

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<v Speaker 2>of no potatoes.

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<v Speaker 3>Wow.

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<v Speaker 1>So I'd actually read this thing in Metal Floss years

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<v Speaker 1>ago that early farmers would plant potatoes on Easter and

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<v Speaker 1>sprinkle them with holy water because they wanted the plant

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<v Speaker 1>to grow safely and not be dangerous. But how do

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<v Speaker 1>potatoes make their way into favor in culture?

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<v Speaker 2>So there's this army officer Antoine Parmentier, and he gets

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<v Speaker 2>captured by the Prussians in the seven year war, and

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<v Speaker 2>so basically he's fed potatoes at this prison, and he

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<v Speaker 2>doesn't notice any ill effects, like he's supposed to get

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<v Speaker 2>leprosy and get all sick and all these other things.

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<v Speaker 2>He stays healthy pretty much the whole time. But also

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<v Speaker 2>he notices that France at the time has stopped exporting

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<v Speaker 2>grains and the Prussian army actually uses potatoes as a

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<v Speaker 2>replacement for it in their diet. So Parmentier looks at

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<v Speaker 2>all of this, and as he learns more, he realizes

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<v Speaker 2>that potatoes don't take that much effort to grow. So

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<v Speaker 2>when he's released back to France, he starts this campaign

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<v Speaker 2>to rehb illoitate the potato's image. He throws these dinner

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<v Speaker 2>parties where he serves all these potato courses to celebrities,

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<v Speaker 2>like then Franklin came to one of these things. He

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<v Speaker 2>gives potato flowers to Marie Antoinette, and she then popularizes

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<v Speaker 2>these things by wearing them in a hat. So people

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<v Speaker 2>start getting curious and you know, trying to figure out

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<v Speaker 2>what's going on with this leprosy fruit which is the potato.

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<v Speaker 2>But then he pulls off his greatest stunt, which I

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<v Speaker 2>haven't even mentioned yet.

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<v Speaker 3>So what's his greatest stunt.

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<v Speaker 2>He plants a potato patch. He puts a ring of

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<v Speaker 2>armed guards around it, so everyone starts thinking of them

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<v Speaker 2>as like this luxury. I mean, this really is pretty smart.

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<v Speaker 2>I think of them as this, you know, very valuable thing.

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<v Speaker 2>But then he quietly tells the guards to accept bribes

0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.840
<v Speaker 2>and allow people to start stealing the potatoes. So in

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<v Speaker 2>seventeen seventy two, all these peasants steel potatoes and treat

0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:58.040
<v Speaker 2>them like this precious food. And then the Paris Faculty

0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:02.960
<v Speaker 2>of Medicine finally declares the potato edible and makes them

0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:04.960
<v Speaker 2>legal again. Is amazing.

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<v Speaker 3>French science is just on top of it.

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<v Speaker 2>I was right and know what they're doing.

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<v Speaker 3>So is Parmentier like famous in France for doing this?

0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:14.840
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I guess kind of. And he, you know,

0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:18.800
<v Speaker 2>the potato helped France get through some difficult famines, and

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<v Speaker 2>Louis the sixteenth rewarded him for his work, actually declaring

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<v Speaker 2>how important Parmentier was keeping the masses fed. And when

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<v Speaker 2>he died, Parmentier's casket was actually placed in a plot

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<v Speaker 2>circled with potato plants, and in the middle there's this

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<v Speaker 2>bronze statue of him handing a potato to a commoner

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<v Speaker 2>who's standing below him.

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<v Speaker 1>So just so you know, I would also like a

0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.680
<v Speaker 1>statue of me handing out potatoes to commoners, just so

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<v Speaker 1>I can remember it as like a man of the people.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, no, I kind of expected this. So there's already

0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:55.360
<v Speaker 2>one in the works. I've started out paying in installments

0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:57.720
<v Speaker 2>so that it'll be ready. It's going to be very expensive.

0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.880
<v Speaker 2>But anyway, enough about Parmentier. What fact are you going

0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:01.439
<v Speaker 2>to start with?

0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:06.000
<v Speaker 1>I've got one about baseball. So you've heard of the

0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:08.800
<v Speaker 1>old baseball trick where a first baseman might.

0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:10.600
<v Speaker 3>Walk up to the pitcher and fake hand on.

0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:12.559
<v Speaker 1>The baseball, but actually he keeps the ball on the

0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:14.920
<v Speaker 1>glove and ye when he walks back to the bag

0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:16.800
<v Speaker 1>and the base runner steps off the base take a lead,

0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:17.880
<v Speaker 1>he sort of tags him out.

0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.480
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, of course, And it's like this old trick that

0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.440
<v Speaker 2>mostly gets used. I don't know, I feel like in

0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:25.880
<v Speaker 2>kids movies about baseball, like you remember this Rookie of

0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:27.240
<v Speaker 2>the Year, I mean, one of the greatest films of

0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:27.640
<v Speaker 2>all time.

0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:29.920
<v Speaker 1>I think, yeah, it is a very Rookie of the

0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:34.720
<v Speaker 1>Year play. But this minor league catcher for the Williamsport Bills.

0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.360
<v Speaker 1>His name is Dave Bresnahan. He was completely obsessed with

0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:40.800
<v Speaker 1>this trick play and this was in the late eighties,

0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.840
<v Speaker 1>like nineteen eighty seven, and Bresnahan was actually obsessed with

0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.720
<v Speaker 1>a variation of that trick using a fake baseball.

0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.080
<v Speaker 2>I love that n anybody was obsessed with this trick. But anyway,

0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:51.960
<v Speaker 2>how does that work?

0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:55.120
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so in this case, the catcher replaces the ball

0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:57.080
<v Speaker 1>in his glove with the potato because you know how

0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.679
<v Speaker 1>people always confuse like baseballs for potato.

0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:01.040
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it always happens.

0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:03.960
<v Speaker 1>So the way the trick works is that the catcher

0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:07.120
<v Speaker 1>accidentally throws the potato into outfield like it's an error,

0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.079
<v Speaker 1>and then you know, when the base runner tries to

0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.160
<v Speaker 1>steal home, the catcher shows that he actually has the

0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.760
<v Speaker 1>baseball hidden his glove the whole time and tags them out.

0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:17.760
<v Speaker 2>And do people they actually did this in baseball games.

0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:20.960
<v Speaker 1>So according to the La Times, which is where I

0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:23.160
<v Speaker 1>read about the story, I guess a few people got

0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.520
<v Speaker 1>away with it in their earliest days of baseball.

0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:27.079
<v Speaker 3>It was called the Tater trick.

0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:31.480
<v Speaker 1>And anyway, so Bresnahan decides he's going to pull off

0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.640
<v Speaker 1>the tater trick in a real game, and he goes

0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:34.199
<v Speaker 1>all out.

0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:36.640
<v Speaker 3>He pays an artist to carve a.

0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.400
<v Speaker 1>Potato and paint seems on it like it's a real

0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.760
<v Speaker 1>baseball even picks the perfect game. He wants to do

0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:45.640
<v Speaker 1>it against the Phillies farm team in Reading because the

0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:47.760
<v Speaker 1>Philly fanatic will be there and that means they'll be

0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.679
<v Speaker 1>more of a crowd, right, and he starts trying to

0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:54.040
<v Speaker 1>lay the groundwork like in games before the big one,

0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:56.280
<v Speaker 1>he starts trying to pick off players at third, so

0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:58.960
<v Speaker 1>he's kind of getting this reputation as a catcher who

0:13:58.960 --> 0:13:59.800
<v Speaker 1>picks off players.

0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:00.600
<v Speaker 2>Mm hmm.

0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:03.720
<v Speaker 1>Anyway, the big day arrives and in the sixth inning

0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.080
<v Speaker 1>he gets into the perfect situation. There are two outs

0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.160
<v Speaker 1>and a man on third, and Reresnahan knows this is

0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:12.720
<v Speaker 1>his moment, so he comes up with this excuse. He

0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:14.679
<v Speaker 1>tells the empire that the webbing on his glove is

0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:16.760
<v Speaker 1>off and he needs to replace his glove, and then

0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:21.000
<v Speaker 1>he walks to the dugout, grabs this ridiculous carved potato

0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:22.160
<v Speaker 1>and then walks back.

0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:24.960
<v Speaker 2>So does anybody notice that he's doing this.

0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:26.480
<v Speaker 3>The whole team?

0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:28.920
<v Speaker 1>Like, I don't think the manager new but the whole

0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:31.520
<v Speaker 1>team starts laughing, and they're having a hard time like

0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:35.400
<v Speaker 1>controlling themselves because they know what's up. And Presidahan himself

0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.760
<v Speaker 1>is trying to keep it together. But when the runner

0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:39.800
<v Speaker 1>on third takes a lead and the pitch lens in

0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.600
<v Speaker 1>his glove, he snaps into action and he makes a

0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:47.600
<v Speaker 1>switch and he throws this potato to third, But instead

0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:50.400
<v Speaker 1>of overthrowing the potato past the third basement into the field,

0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:54.520
<v Speaker 1>he accidentally underthrows it and it bounces, and the potato

0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:57.680
<v Speaker 1>breaks into three pieces and it lands right in front

0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:02.240
<v Speaker 1>of the third base umpire but the player doesn't notice,

0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.240
<v Speaker 1>and you know, he charges home and Reresnahan shows him

0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:06.840
<v Speaker 1>the ball and tags him out, and then he walks

0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:07.920
<v Speaker 1>to the dugout.

0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:08.840
<v Speaker 3>And here's the.

0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:12.440
<v Speaker 1>Thing, right, Presihan assumes if his team follows him, the

0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:14.400
<v Speaker 1>other team will walk off too and the game will

0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:15.640
<v Speaker 1>just move on and continue.

0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:17.320
<v Speaker 2>So does this work?

0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:18.760
<v Speaker 3>Not at all?

0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:20.200
<v Speaker 2>Oh man?

0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:23.600
<v Speaker 1>The officials are super confused. His teammates stay on the field.

0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:26.200
<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, the third base ump goes to inspect

0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.920
<v Speaker 1>this you know, broken up potato, and when he realized

0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:32.560
<v Speaker 1>what's happened, officials just award the runner home plate and

0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.720
<v Speaker 1>then Bresnahan gets pulled from the game for his Shenanigans

0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.880
<v Speaker 1>and the next day he's fined fifty dollars and cut

0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:39.400
<v Speaker 1>from the team.

0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.120
<v Speaker 2>Oh my gosh, that we have way more sad than

0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:43.960
<v Speaker 2>I expected. That's a funny trick.

0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.560
<v Speaker 1>Reresnahan actually didn't mind that much because he was not

0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.640
<v Speaker 1>that great a player, and the fans loved it, so

0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.480
<v Speaker 1>he became such a like fan favorite or this legend

0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.320
<v Speaker 1>that the team ended up retiring his jersey at the

0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.480
<v Speaker 1>sold out game. And uh, and they charge a dollar

0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:02.440
<v Speaker 1>for tickets where not only could you attend, but you

0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:07.160
<v Speaker 1>also got a potato with your ticket, And actually the

0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.200
<v Speaker 1>largest chunk of that potato he threw in that Phillies

0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.400
<v Speaker 1>game is in a jar of alcohol sitting on display

0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.680
<v Speaker 1>in a baseball history museum in California. So like, I

0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.160
<v Speaker 1>think President Ahead actually feels like he went out.

0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:21.600
<v Speaker 2>And yeah, he came out on top. That's pretty fun.

0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.440
<v Speaker 3>So what do you have that's next? All right?

0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.720
<v Speaker 2>How about a quick one from the Farmer's Almanac. I

0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:30.400
<v Speaker 2>know you're a fan of the Farmer's Almanacs, so I

0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.840
<v Speaker 2>feel like that's where my favorite of the Almanacs. Oh, definitely, definitely.

0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:37.160
<v Speaker 2>So if you've got a knife with some small rust spots,

0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.000
<v Speaker 2>you can actually use a potato to fix that.

0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:42.840
<v Speaker 1>So how's that work? Do you like use the potatoes

0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:44.160
<v Speaker 1>to sprub away the rust or what?

0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:46.320
<v Speaker 2>I mean? That would be one way, But according to

0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:49.200
<v Speaker 2>the Almanac and quite a few other online sources, it's

0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:52.240
<v Speaker 2>actually even easier than that. So you just insert the

0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.520
<v Speaker 2>knife into the potato, let it sit, and the oxalic

0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:57.840
<v Speaker 2>acid and the potato will work on the rust and

0:16:57.920 --> 0:16:59.960
<v Speaker 2>soften it so that it then rinses away.

0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:02.840
<v Speaker 1>How great would it be if that was like the

0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.439
<v Speaker 1>best way to clean all your utensils, Like you just

0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:07.880
<v Speaker 1>stab them into potatoes and leave them overnight to clean them.

0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.160
<v Speaker 2>Be the best feelings. Just keep stabbing potatoes.

0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:13.240
<v Speaker 3>I'd have so many potatoes around.

0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.399
<v Speaker 1>Speaking of a lot of potatoes, here's a trend I

0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:20.119
<v Speaker 1>kind of want to bring back from twenty twelve in Japan,

0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:22.720
<v Speaker 1>and it's the McDonald's potato party.

0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.879
<v Speaker 2>I mean, we've established you do love McDonald's French fries.

0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:28.520
<v Speaker 1>I know with sweden sower sauce. It's it's like one

0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:31.600
<v Speaker 1>of the many food quirks and loves I have. But

0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:34.960
<v Speaker 1>about a decade ago, the McDonald's and Japan started running

0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:37.280
<v Speaker 1>a sale kind of like the dollar Menu, where large

0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:41.520
<v Speaker 1>fries were suddenly steeply discounted, And so some teens ordered

0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.400
<v Speaker 1>twenty three large fries and made a mountain of them

0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:46.879
<v Speaker 1>on a bunch of trays and posted to social media

0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.720
<v Speaker 1>and people just went crazy, I guess, And this is

0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.760
<v Speaker 1>according to giz Moto, the McDonald's and Japan use a

0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:57.760
<v Speaker 1>more polite form of Japanese, so even though it's not fancy,

0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.359
<v Speaker 1>you're supposed to act with like a little bit more um,

0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:04.800
<v Speaker 1>I guess. And the photo gets retweeted thousands of times,

0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.399
<v Speaker 1>and people are angry that kids are acting silly and

0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:10.840
<v Speaker 1>being a bother to the McDonald's, and some people are

0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:12.919
<v Speaker 1>just stunned to see that many fries in one place.

0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.760
<v Speaker 1>But the biggest chorus around these photos is this argument

0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.080
<v Speaker 1>that if you order that many fries, you have to

0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:22.000
<v Speaker 1>eat them or is disrespectful.

0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:23.600
<v Speaker 2>And I would agree with that. But did this become

0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:24.119
<v Speaker 2>a trend?

0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.960
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Like potato parties started popping up all over the place,

0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:30.920
<v Speaker 1>and some kids saw the twenty three fry order as

0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.280
<v Speaker 1>a challenge. Obviously, so in Okinawa, some kids ordered forty

0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:38.080
<v Speaker 1>large fries. At the McDonald's near Okayama Station, a small

0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:41.800
<v Speaker 1>group of kids ordered sixty large fries, and that photo

0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:45.639
<v Speaker 1>got retweeted tens of thousands of times apparently, and so, like,

0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:49.320
<v Speaker 1>you know, the kids are supposed to finish these fries,

0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:51.760
<v Speaker 1>and they actually do, like like I think, it takes

0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:53.840
<v Speaker 1>them about three hours, but.

0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.760
<v Speaker 3>The employees get super upset.

0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.040
<v Speaker 1>Apparently the fries took up a whole large table on

0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:03.160
<v Speaker 1>their own, and then all the people watching these kids

0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:06.240
<v Speaker 1>house these fries take up another large table. So you know,

0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.000
<v Speaker 1>it felt like they were losing business. And one employee

0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:11.840
<v Speaker 1>from the restaurant took to Twitter and just asked for

0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:18.720
<v Speaker 1>it to quote please stop, please stop. That said, if

0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.200
<v Speaker 1>you are heading trays and trays of fries over to kid,

0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:23.359
<v Speaker 1>you've got to expect there's gonna be a little chaos.

0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:26.359
<v Speaker 2>When you said the three hours, though, the only thing

0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.679
<v Speaker 2>I could think of is like, while the fries are delicious,

0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:33.560
<v Speaker 2>after about thirty minutes, if they're sitting there, they go

0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:37.240
<v Speaker 2>from really good to pretty gross pretty fast. I wonder

0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.399
<v Speaker 2>they must have just kept ordering them rather than ordering

0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:42.400
<v Speaker 2>a bunch at one time, because I don't know I'd

0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:44.720
<v Speaker 2>have to see how that works. But how did the

0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:45.920
<v Speaker 2>trend finally die down?

0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:48.960
<v Speaker 1>So McDonald's just up the price on the fries to

0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.480
<v Speaker 1>their regular price and it kind of stopped really soon

0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.399
<v Speaker 1>after that, which is a pretty simple fix.

0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.320
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, all right. So here's a weird When I

0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:02.720
<v Speaker 2>was watching this documentary about potato chips and ed her

0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.520
<v Speaker 2>from Hers Potato Chips, and he said that if they

0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:07.919
<v Speaker 2>still made potato chips the way they used to, this

0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:10.639
<v Speaker 2>was about fifty years ago when the company started, they

0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:13.560
<v Speaker 2>would have to charge twenty five dollars a bag.

0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:15.400
<v Speaker 3>Twenty five dollars the back. Why is that?

0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.080
<v Speaker 2>I mean, that's just how much the industry has automated

0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.800
<v Speaker 2>since then. It's actually kind of amazing to watch how

0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.480
<v Speaker 2>it all works. So when a truck full of potatoes

0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:26.560
<v Speaker 2>goes to the Hers factory, the trailers pulled onto a

0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:29.239
<v Speaker 2>scale where the potatoes are then weighed, and then it

0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.360
<v Speaker 2>lifts the potatoes and dumps the potatoes onto a conveyor

0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:36.000
<v Speaker 2>belt and the whole process starts kind of without humans.

0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:38.679
<v Speaker 2>The whole thing is starting there. And instead of watching

0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:41.120
<v Speaker 2>to see which potatoes are colored green and which ones

0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:44.240
<v Speaker 2>are good, this computer sorts all of this out and

0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:48.000
<v Speaker 2>the imperfect potatoes and chips are all weeded out along

0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:50.920
<v Speaker 2>the way. Ed Hear actually says that when his mom

0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:53.560
<v Speaker 2>was involved in the business and used to supervise the

0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:56.680
<v Speaker 2>bagging of these chips, they would bag five to ten

0:20:56.760 --> 0:21:00.000
<v Speaker 2>pounds of chips every hour, and now with fewer people,

0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:03.120
<v Speaker 2>more computers on the line, they bag five to six

0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:07.199
<v Speaker 2>tons of potato chips every hour, which is insane.

0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:09.439
<v Speaker 3>That is amazing, you know.

0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:12.440
<v Speaker 1>Speaking of potato chip bags, here's a quick interesting one.

0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.720
<v Speaker 1>So people absolutely hate that potato chip bags are over

0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:19.640
<v Speaker 1>fifty percent air. In fact, Korean college students in twenty

0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:23.040
<v Speaker 1>fourteen protested this fact by taking one hundred and sixty

0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:26.399
<v Speaker 1>potato chip bags, binding them together with plastic and tape,

0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:28.760
<v Speaker 1>and using them to build a raft to float across

0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:32.440
<v Speaker 1>the river. And apparently two hundred plus people watch that feet.

0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:36.359
<v Speaker 1>But the question remains, why do potato chips have so

0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:37.240
<v Speaker 1>much air in them?

0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:40.199
<v Speaker 2>Mm hmm, yeah, And do you have an answer to this?

0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:46.280
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it is intentional. It is called slackvill and that's

0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:49.480
<v Speaker 1>the industry term. Basically, those bags are pumped full of

0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:52.840
<v Speaker 1>a little extra nitrogen to both keep the chips preserved

0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:55.080
<v Speaker 1>but also because if the bags are packed with air,

0:21:55.480 --> 0:21:57.960
<v Speaker 1>they won't get mishandled, and you won't end up with

0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:01.159
<v Speaker 1>a bag full of crumbs. A way to protect you

0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:04.679
<v Speaker 1>from getting a half bag of like fully round chips.

0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:07.680
<v Speaker 2>Oh that's interesting. I guess we always assume that it's

0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:10.800
<v Speaker 2>just too to be cheap or cheat us out of

0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:13.440
<v Speaker 2>a certain number of chips or something. But that's pretty interesting.

0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:15.359
<v Speaker 2>All right, We've got a couple more facts to go,

0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:31.600
<v Speaker 2>but let's pause for just a quick break. Welcome back

0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:33.639
<v Speaker 2>to part time Genius, where we're talking about a really

0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:38.080
<v Speaker 2>important summer topic, potatoes, of course. So Mango, we've each

0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:40.440
<v Speaker 2>got one fact to go. What do you want to

0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:40.879
<v Speaker 2>close with?

0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:43.679
<v Speaker 1>Well, I know you're probably a little late to celebrate this,

0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:46.320
<v Speaker 1>but I want to point out to you that in

0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:49.440
<v Speaker 1>two thousand and eight, the UN declared it the International

0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:50.400
<v Speaker 1>Year of the Potato.

0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:53.840
<v Speaker 2>Okay, well, we're just what fourteen years behind celebrating this

0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:56.600
<v Speaker 2>historic event. That's never too late, It's okay.

0:22:57.480 --> 0:22:59.840
<v Speaker 1>Well, it's kind of interesting why the UN decided to

0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:02.800
<v Speaker 1>do this. As they put it, they wanted to shed

0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:05.800
<v Speaker 1>new light on a hidden treasure, and part of the

0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:09.880
<v Speaker 1>reason is that growing potatoes is surprisingly efficient in combating

0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:14.600
<v Speaker 1>hunger because potatoes aren't really traded across borders. Because they're

0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:18.159
<v Speaker 1>so easy to grow across climates from low to high altitudes,

0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:21.920
<v Speaker 1>and because they're not really globally traded like most cereal crops,

0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:24.400
<v Speaker 1>they offer a lot of food security and farmers don't

0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:27.480
<v Speaker 1>have to worry about the prices fluctuating because of global markets.

0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:31.080
<v Speaker 1>Apparently that year, places like Peru encouraged locals to use

0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:34.520
<v Speaker 1>potato flour to reduce the reliance on wheat imports, and

0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:37.800
<v Speaker 1>both the Chinese and Indian governments leaned into potato production

0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:40.360
<v Speaker 1>to feed their growing populations. And I kind of like that,

0:23:40.440 --> 0:23:43.160
<v Speaker 1>after all that time, the UN finally gave the potato

0:23:43.240 --> 0:23:45.520
<v Speaker 1>it's due in this giant report.

0:23:45.800 --> 0:23:47.480
<v Speaker 2>I agree. I kind of like that too.

0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:49.960
<v Speaker 3>So how are you gonna close this up?

0:23:50.160 --> 0:23:50.240
<v Speaker 2>All?

0:23:50.320 --> 0:23:50.480
<v Speaker 1>Right?

0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:52.600
<v Speaker 2>Well, I was torn. There were a couple facts I

0:23:52.640 --> 0:23:54.400
<v Speaker 2>was looking at, but I'm gonna save one of them

0:23:54.480 --> 0:23:56.240
<v Speaker 2>for this. I think we need to do a follow

0:23:56.320 --> 0:23:59.320
<v Speaker 2>up with nine more great facts about potatoes because they're

0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:03.480
<v Speaker 2>just so much. But how about a fact about couch potatoes?

0:24:04.080 --> 0:24:07.879
<v Speaker 2>So unlike most etymology, which can be pretty frustrating because

0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:10.640
<v Speaker 2>the origins are always you know, pretty murky. We've dealt

0:24:10.640 --> 0:24:14.399
<v Speaker 2>with that on several topics before. There is an exact

0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:18.439
<v Speaker 2>start date for the word couch potato. He first appeared

0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:21.120
<v Speaker 2>in print back in nineteen seventy nine, the year both

0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:23.600
<v Speaker 2>you and I were born. This was in the La

0:24:23.720 --> 0:24:27.800
<v Speaker 2>Times while referencing a float on a parade route. According

0:24:27.840 --> 0:24:30.880
<v Speaker 2>to the article quote, the couch potatoes will be lying

0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:34.280
<v Speaker 2>on couches watching television as they are towed toward the

0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:38.159
<v Speaker 2>parade route. According to the excellent site Today, I learned

0:24:38.440 --> 0:24:41.439
<v Speaker 2>a man named Tom Locino was the first to coin

0:24:41.520 --> 0:24:44.639
<v Speaker 2>the phrase. He had this good buddy named Bob Armstrong,

0:24:44.720 --> 0:24:47.760
<v Speaker 2>and they'd already started this little group called the boob Tubers,

0:24:48.200 --> 0:24:50.800
<v Speaker 2>and it was kind of this ridiculous protest against the

0:24:50.840 --> 0:24:54.119
<v Speaker 2>California health craze at the time, and the boob tubers

0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:56.680
<v Speaker 2>were basically committed to sitting in front of the TV

0:24:56.880 --> 0:25:00.280
<v Speaker 2>and snacking instead of jazzer siding or whatever the the

0:25:00.359 --> 0:25:03.800
<v Speaker 2>fad was at the time. So after recruiting their friends,

0:25:03.840 --> 0:25:06.560
<v Speaker 2>they launched this float in the Duda Parade.

0:25:06.720 --> 0:25:09.200
<v Speaker 3>None of this sounds real, this.

0:25:09.320 --> 0:25:12.800
<v Speaker 2>Joke parade to parody the Tournament of Roses Parade. But

0:25:12.880 --> 0:25:16.160
<v Speaker 2>one day in nineteen seventy six, Lsino called up Armstrong

0:25:16.520 --> 0:25:19.560
<v Speaker 2>and when his girlfriend answered the phone, he asked, Hey,

0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:22.520
<v Speaker 2>is the couch Potato there? And apparently she looked over

0:25:22.840 --> 0:25:26.160
<v Speaker 2>saw her boyfriend just planted on the couch and started laughing.

0:25:26.480 --> 0:25:29.760
<v Speaker 2>And after that they rebranded as the couch Potatoes and

0:25:29.840 --> 0:25:32.560
<v Speaker 2>tried to trademark the word, but it actually became too

0:25:32.640 --> 0:25:36.000
<v Speaker 2>popular in pop culture for them to protect the mark.

0:25:36.080 --> 0:25:39.320
<v Speaker 2>I had actually never heard this story before, you know,

0:25:39.440 --> 0:25:41.080
<v Speaker 2>doing the prep for this episode.

0:25:41.320 --> 0:25:43.880
<v Speaker 1>So that is so funny that there's actually a person

0:25:43.880 --> 0:25:46.919
<v Speaker 1>who invented that phrase, Tom Lasino. I think you deserve

0:25:47.000 --> 0:25:49.120
<v Speaker 1>this week's trophy for best Fact, But since I don't

0:25:49.119 --> 0:25:52.679
<v Speaker 1>actually know you, I think will you should accept this

0:25:52.880 --> 0:25:53.960
<v Speaker 1>award in his honor.

0:25:54.560 --> 0:25:57.000
<v Speaker 2>All right, I guess I'll do that. Thanks so much, Tom,

0:25:57.200 --> 0:25:59.960
<v Speaker 2>I appreciate it, buddy. That's it for this week's Part

0:26:00.040 --> 0:26:02.640
<v Speaker 2>Time Genius. Will be back with more very important facts soon.

0:26:02.960 --> 0:26:17.320
<v Speaker 4>Thanks so much for listening.

0:26:18.640 --> 0:26:21.440
<v Speaker 2>Part Time Genius is a production of iHeartRadio. For more

0:26:21.480 --> 0:26:25.119
<v Speaker 2>podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

0:26:25.119 --> 0:26:26.720
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