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Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome

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Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always

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Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. That's our super producer, the

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Speaker 1: one and only Max Williams. They called me Ben and

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Speaker 1: I gotta tell you. Out of all the carbs, all

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Speaker 1: the carbs in the world, potatoes are number one for me. Sorry,

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Speaker 1: beer potatoes, stick him in a stew, Taters, spuds, Uh,

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Speaker 1: just make up dirt munches, Tubers, tubers, there you go. Tubers.

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Speaker 1: Tubers actually refers to like what the thing that they

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Speaker 1: grow from, right, sort of like bulbs, sort of like

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Speaker 1: tulip bulbs. I think the things you plant to grow

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Speaker 1: potatoes are called tubers or it's it's it's like a

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Speaker 1: genre of of root of edible root, right yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: It's the underground part of a stem or a rhyme

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Speaker 1: that serves as a food reserve. It does bear buds

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Speaker 1: from which new plants can grow. Right, It's like when

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Speaker 1: you take a potato and you stick it, you can

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Speaker 1: you can actually grow potato from a potato, the like

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Speaker 1: you know when you actually when you leave a potato

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Speaker 1: out for too long, those tubers start to come out

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Speaker 1: almost like some sort of weird Cathulu esque creepers. I'm

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Speaker 1: no old, by the way, Yes, yes, your nol and

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Speaker 1: a potato is a typical tuber. It's a great example

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Speaker 1: of a delicious tuber. All you need is a little

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Speaker 1: bit of salt, some some butter, source of heat and

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Speaker 1: in imagination, and you can. You can take potatoes pretty far.

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Speaker 1: It's true, it's true, but a lot like other, you know,

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Speaker 1: earlier forms of of food stuffs that we now know

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Speaker 1: and enjoy, like the banana potatoes, weren't always the potatoes

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Speaker 1: we know and love today, were they? No, they weren't old.

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Speaker 1: I love that you're bringing this up. So this is

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Speaker 1: this is odd. This has happened a couple of times

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Speaker 1: in Europe. There are some uh, some specific types of

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Speaker 1: produce or even dishes that become closely associated with a

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Speaker 1: given country, But those fruits and vegetables or tubers in

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Speaker 1: this case, are not themselves native to the European continent.

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Speaker 1: You know, some people are surprised to learn that tomatoes

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Speaker 1: were not native to Italy and weren't around for a

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Speaker 1: long long time, And the same is true with Ireland

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Speaker 1: and potatoes. Are you implying the potatoes migrate, yes, Monty

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Speaker 1: python reference, but no, it's true. I mean potatoes, he can't.

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Speaker 1: You're inseparable from from the Irish culture almost like in

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Speaker 1: this cliche, sort of obnoxious, almost condescending, the idea of

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Speaker 1: of Irish Irish being sort of simple folk potato farmers,

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Speaker 1: like subsisting on very bland foods, and of course the

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Speaker 1: famous potato blight or the potato famine of Irish history

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Speaker 1: is also a huge part of of that country's identity.

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Speaker 1: But they're you're right, they're not native to um Ireland

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Speaker 1: at all. In fact that they're not native to anywhere

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Speaker 1: in Europe. They originally were domesticated in the Andes Mountains

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Speaker 1: in Peru, also in northwest Bolivia, and they were used

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Speaker 1: for food as far back as eight thousand b C.

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Speaker 1: We've got a great article from Mental Floss about the

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Speaker 1: history of potatoes. Highly recommend checking that one out. But

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Speaker 1: they didn't taste the same back then either. They were

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Speaker 1: oddly shaped, or at least oddly compared to the you know,

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Speaker 1: very typical oblong potato shape that we know and left today.

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Speaker 1: But they also tasted bitter, and you know how some

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Speaker 1: vegetables have a little bit of a bitter taste, and

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Speaker 1: then when you cook them that can kind of dissipate

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Speaker 1: a little bit. This is not the case. No amount

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Speaker 1: of preparation or cooking could get rid of that bitter taste.

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Speaker 1: And also some of them were toxic, and lamas had

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Speaker 1: a really great trick for making sure they didn't die

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Speaker 1: from eating these bitter potatoes. Right, yeah, yeah, that bitter

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Speaker 1: taste was you know, a little bit of poison, not

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Speaker 1: a ton, just a touch, just a touch of poison. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Lava's would lick clay before they ate potatoes in the wild,

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Speaker 1: and the poisonous parts of these potatoes essentially would stick

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Speaker 1: with the clay particles and then it would travel safely

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Speaker 1: through the animals body. So people in the Andes noticed this,

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Speaker 1: and then they started dunking their potatoes in a mixture

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Speaker 1: they had made of clay and water. You know, this

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Speaker 1: wasn't actually hote cuisine, but it did make the potato

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Speaker 1: edible and a little more enjoyable. And we're on a

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Speaker 1: bit of a quest today to understand how the human

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Speaker 1: species got from lama impersonators in Peru, at least when

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Speaker 1: it comes to cuisine, all the way to the modern

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Speaker 1: day when potatoes are a worldwide phenomenon and they're especially

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Speaker 1: popular in Europe, because, as we're going to see, this

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Speaker 1: was not always the case. But like you said, no Peru,

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Speaker 1: that's where our story starts. This was a very important

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Speaker 1: food stuff for people in the Andes Mountains. This was

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Speaker 1: a staple product. And we know this went on for

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Speaker 1: centuries and centuries in that part of the world. But

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Speaker 1: the fact is, you guys, no one had seen a

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Speaker 1: potato in Europe. No European had seen a spud before

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Speaker 1: Spanish conquistadors invaded South America way back in what the

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Speaker 1: early Fires fifteen thirty and over through the Incan Empire Yepe.

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Speaker 1: And with that, like many things we see that to

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Speaker 1: start popping up in Europe usually come from some sort

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Speaker 1: of tragedy, traumatic cultural events, or decimation. So is the

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Speaker 1: case with the potato. I just want to add one

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Speaker 1: more little thing. There's a really great little tidbit in

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Speaker 1: the Mental Flaws article by Michelle deb Check that even today,

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Speaker 1: those uh slightly poisonous potatoes, you can still get them

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Speaker 1: at andy and markets and they're sold with like a

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Speaker 1: little digestion aid, a little packet of this digestion aiding

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Speaker 1: clay um kind of mixture. So though, that was pretty interesting,

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Speaker 1: and it just shows that, you know, even if it's poison,

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Speaker 1: tradition is is important. But you're right, Ben, Around the

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Speaker 1: mid fifteen thirties, the Incan Empire was overthrown by Spanish conquistadores,

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Speaker 1: and so came the spud, the noble spud to Europe

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Speaker 1: in the sixteenth century. But it was not met with

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Speaker 1: open arms, Ben, it was not met with open arms.

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Speaker 1: The Spa Nish brought the potato back from South America,

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Speaker 1: and at this point they kind of bread it or

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Speaker 1: cultivated it in such a way that it was totally edible.

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Speaker 1: You didn't have to, you know, mix it with dirt

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Speaker 1: or clay dustin people did that. The Spanish didn't help.

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Speaker 1: The Spanish did not. Now they were not about that life.

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Speaker 1: But here's the thing, and I love this socially. Those

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Speaker 1: tubers we were talking about, Um, well, this is a myth,

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Speaker 1: I think. But it's interesting cause you heard about a

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Speaker 1: lot of stuff that is easily debunked. The idea that

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Speaker 1: Europeans didn't like any um plants or or you know,

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Speaker 1: food stuff that weren't expressly mentioned in the Bible. Shout

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Speaker 1: out to the State for anybody who remembers the fantastic,

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Speaker 1: wildly underrated sketch show the State. There's this wonderful sketch

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Speaker 1: where they talk about whether or not penguins or in

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Speaker 1: the Bible. Uh, this this family and that's that's kind

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Speaker 1: of a descendant of this idea. This did happen, though,

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Speaker 1: this has been debunked in different cases, right, different specific cases.

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Speaker 1: But we do know that more conservative people of the

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Speaker 1: time time literally would say, well, I don't know, it's

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Speaker 1: not in the Bible. Is not in the Bible? Did

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Speaker 1: if it was in the Bible, it would have wrote

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Speaker 1: it down right, so but I would have ridded it down.

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Speaker 1: That is a pitch perfect sixteenth century Flemish accent, really wondering, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, I applaud you, um, but okay, so we

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Speaker 1: know this has been debunked, Like I think, what we're

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Speaker 1: tomatoes not mentioned the Bible, and there was like a

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Speaker 1: theory that that was when we talked about tomatoes, and

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Speaker 1: the idea that people thought they were poisoned too and

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Speaker 1: that they weren't mentioned in the Bible was a thing.

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Speaker 1: But anyway, there's there's lots of examples of that. But

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Speaker 1: another reason for suspicion around these edible underground rudy boys

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Speaker 1: or the fact that they were grown from these tuber

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Speaker 1: things that vaguely resembled the boils on the skin of lepers.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, here's the thing. We we know that there

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Speaker 1: there are a couple of other issues, right, like cabbage

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Speaker 1: didn't get a lot of shine, and a Bible cabbish

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Speaker 1: doesn't have an awesome cameo moment, but it was still

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Speaker 1: really popular tulips that that was also happening at the

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Speaker 1: same time that didn't seem to bother people. And you know,

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Speaker 1: when we're looking at the expansion of all these all

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Speaker 1: these new types of unseen fruit and vegetable or never

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Speaker 1: before seeing fruit and vegetable arriving in Europe from North

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Speaker 1: and South America, we know that people are dealing with

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Speaker 1: a lot of crazy things they haven't seen before, right,

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Speaker 1: and they're trying to compare them two things they already

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Speaker 1: are aware of. Check out our pineapple episode, because that's

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Speaker 1: that's a wild ride. So the other issue here is

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Speaker 1: that South American climates are not like the climates that

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Speaker 1: you will find in Western Europe, especially when you talk

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Speaker 1: about hours of daylight per day during winter and so on.

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Speaker 1: So when they take these buds, these tubers to Europe,

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Speaker 1: they see the potatoes grow leaves and flowers, and the

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Speaker 1: learned folks of the day are studying up on them.

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Speaker 1: But the tubers they create don't quite get to the

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Speaker 1: size of potatoes and peru because they, you know, they're

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Speaker 1: in a different climate. And so the Spanish started trying

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Speaker 1: to figure out where they could grow these, similar to

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Speaker 1: the way that the English were trying to figure out

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Speaker 1: how they could grow pineapples. And if you haven't listened

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Speaker 1: to that episode yet, do check it out. What a

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Speaker 1: weird people used to rent pineapples. It's it didn't happen

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Speaker 1: with potatoes. Now one start written in potatoes yet. But

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Speaker 1: well they weren't very pretty again, like I said, people

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Speaker 1: thought they resembled the kind of stunted, little nubby things

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Speaker 1: that would form on on the skin of lepers or

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Speaker 1: when their fingers would be have to be removed, etcetera

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Speaker 1: very very ghastly kind of stuff. I just want to

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Speaker 1: point out I had my mom did this like Christmas

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Speaker 1: in July thing because you know, or you know, COVID

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Speaker 1: relatively being somewhat dealt with enough to at least like,

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Speaker 1: hug your grandma. We hadn't seen our family, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: members in in a long time, even before covid um.

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Speaker 1: So we did a little Christmas in July thing and

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Speaker 1: I went, I couldn't notice that she had this massive

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Speaker 1: pineapple in this fruit ball that clearly was not for consumption,

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Speaker 1: was clearly just for decoration. And I mentioned to her that, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know, back in the day, this would have cost

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Speaker 1: you a pretty penny just to rent um. But no,

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Speaker 1: definitely not the case with potatoes. But they did start um.

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Speaker 1: Potatoes were prettier back then, though, weren't they been. They

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Speaker 1: like actually flowered and they would be studied by botanists.

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Speaker 1: These potato flowers. He's kind of like very um or

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Speaker 1: nate little blooms, right, yeah, yeah, Like I was saying,

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Speaker 1: the climate was such that they could have these leaves

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Speaker 1: and flowers. But again, the tubers themselves were not reaching

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Speaker 1: the size that you could find in South America. So

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Speaker 1: the Spanish did something that was pretty intelligent. They were

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Speaker 1: aware of the climate and they said, okay, we'll try

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Speaker 1: to grow potatoes somewhere else. We'll grow them on the

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Speaker 1: Canary Islands, which is kind of think of it like

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Speaker 1: the Goldilocks zone between the northern climate of Europe and

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Speaker 1: the more equatorial climate of South America. Still, when we

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Speaker 1: talk about the controversy, I think it's hard for a

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Speaker 1: lot of us in the modern day realize or to

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Speaker 1: think of potatoes as a controversial thing, because for many

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Speaker 1: of us, wherever you are in the world or most

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Speaker 1: most places in the world, potatoes are a common known,

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Speaker 1: very nod controversial thing, right nobody. It's not what you

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Speaker 1: know part by French. But it's not as if any

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Speaker 1: of us are gonna hop on to record ridiculous history.

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Speaker 1: And you guys asked me what I had to eat,

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Speaker 1: and I'll say, oh, I got a Patty Melt and

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Speaker 1: some hash browns. And then here Max go, oh, like

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Speaker 1: that's with holy water? Did you? Did you say the

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Speaker 1: sacraments above it? You know that that was the thing? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: You know what's not in the Bible? Right, Okay? Were

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Speaker 1: you okay with that? You had planted it as a

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Speaker 1: specific time to write some particularly on Good Friday, to

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Speaker 1: prevent it for my guests becoming evil again, those little

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Speaker 1: troopers are kind of creepy looking. I look at them

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Speaker 1: and I can't not think of like the eldritche you know,

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Speaker 1: gods or whatever, like the hundred hundred percent there's like

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Speaker 1: what do they call it called those been the sprouting

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Speaker 1: or fruited. Uh, you know members, I guess that come

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Speaker 1: out of It's the thing in the Last of Us Games,

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Speaker 1: good good, good stuff, good franchise. But here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: What we what we need now, Ben, what what history

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Speaker 1: needs now is a potato evangelists, someone to to come

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Speaker 1: and normalize potatoes and really, you know, sing its praises

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Speaker 1: of the humble potato. And we got that in the

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Speaker 1: form of Antoine Augustine Perimentier, who was like he could

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Speaker 1: consider him like the ultimate hype man for the potato.

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Speaker 1: He's a potato promoter, he's a potato proselytizer, he's a

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Speaker 1: spud spokesman, he's a he's a tater uh trumpeter. Uh.

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Speaker 1: We could get a different term for that one. We'll

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Speaker 1: fix it in post max fix that what I posted.

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Speaker 1: But now this dude. Uh. Antoine Augustine Permanentier was born

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Speaker 1: in seventeen thirty seven. Um. He went on to become

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Speaker 1: a pharmacist he was French, obviously, in the French army

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Speaker 1: during the Seven Years War. There's a really excellent article

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Speaker 1: from Atlas Obscure that also gives a wonderful rundown of

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Speaker 1: the history of the potato by Jim Clark. Highly recommend

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Speaker 1: shocking that out went out, and we're gonna pull some

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Speaker 1: information from that article as well today. But yeah, pharmacist

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Speaker 1: during the Seven Years War. Um he actually became a

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Speaker 1: prisoner of war, during which time the Prussians gave their

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Speaker 1: prisoners potatoes, and the French at the time, um, as

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Speaker 1: we've discussed, still viewed potatoes quite negatively. Yeah, yeah, which

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Speaker 1: is crazy because some of my favorite potato recipes are

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Speaker 1: French influence. Now. But anyway, this is the thing. So

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Speaker 1: imagine you're in prison in Prussia. Life stinks, right, and

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Speaker 1: you're this pharmacist parmenter and he's eating these potatoes in prison,

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Speaker 1: and he goes, these things are actually not bad, they're

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Speaker 1: not deadly, they're they're actually they're pretty great. Like I'm

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Speaker 1: thinking right now, just on their own seven out of ten,

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Speaker 1: and I can make it a nine partmentist thinking. He

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Speaker 1: is eventually released at the end of the war after

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Speaker 1: three years have passed and he can't stop thinking about

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Speaker 1: these potatoes. It's like it's weird they're on his mind.

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Speaker 1: He's been through a literal war, you guys, and people

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Speaker 1: are asking him about the war and how he was

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Speaker 1: a p O dup you in Prussia and he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: have you Have you heard of potatoes though, because like

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Speaker 1: I've the war. That's a five minute conversation. But I

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Speaker 1: have like two days. If you want to talk taters

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Speaker 1: with me. I do want to shout out. Rebecca Earle

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Speaker 1: a professor in the Department of History at the University

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Speaker 1: of Warwick. She wrote an awesome book called Feeding the

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Speaker 1: People The Politics of the Potato. We're gonna be pulling

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Speaker 1: some citations from her in a piece she wrote called

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Speaker 1: How Potatoes Conquered the World. I just wanted to shout out.

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Speaker 1: If you like books about very specific things like me,

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Speaker 1: then check out Dr Earl's Politics of the Potato. So, Ben,

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Speaker 1: you're asking me about the potato and I'm like, I

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Speaker 1: don't know. I heard it was of the devil, you know.

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Speaker 1: I don't trust it. I don't don't want to it

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Speaker 1: was poisonous um change my mind. Wait wait, so that's im.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, I got the table. I'm like, I got

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Speaker 1: the table with the sign. That's his potatoes are of

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Speaker 1: the devil change and that's Premier's job is to change

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Speaker 1: my mind. There are collective minds as a nation. How

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Speaker 1: does he do it? How does he do it? So

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Speaker 1: first off, he says, you know, study thyself. And he's like,

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Speaker 1: I pretty much just ate potatoes for three years and

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Speaker 1: I'm alive. I feel good. I feel pretty pro tator.

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Speaker 1: Uh that was a rough one. We stuck the landing Max.

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Speaker 1: Now Max doesn't approve of that one. So I think

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Speaker 1: I'm going to get a growing soundtrack for that one.

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Speaker 1: I earned it. Uh. So there's this historical novelist Katherine Dolores.

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Speaker 1: Katherine Dolores writes quite a bit about this and says

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Speaker 1: that it was typical of the time for people to

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Speaker 1: challenge these old ideas. So, no, you're the guy at

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Speaker 1: the table saying change my mind and put mine says

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Speaker 1: I am going to change your mind. I'm not just

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Speaker 1: gonna bore you with a bunch of science and a

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Speaker 1: bud to facts. I'm gonna do some flair. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: have some pizzazz on this I'm gonna I'm gonna wow you.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna shock in all you in a war for

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Speaker 1: the hearts and minds of people when it comes to potatoes.

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Speaker 1: So at this time we have to mention this is

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Speaker 1: seventeen seventy two. His first step is to get the

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Speaker 1: French government and the medical community doctors on board, and

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Speaker 1: as Farmers Almanac reports, France had had a potato band

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Speaker 1: for a while. Did you see that? I mean really

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Speaker 1: they were just like, you know what, it's not enough

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Speaker 1: to just kind of malign the poor potato. Let's just

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Speaker 1: outright ban it, like schedule it like a drug or

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Speaker 1: something like that. What was their reasoning? Was it because

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Speaker 1: of the poison potential or was it because they just

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Speaker 1: just didn't like it? They thought it was it was low. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I love the idea of a French p s A

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Speaker 1: from the seventeen hundreds, like oh your children eating potatoes,

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Speaker 1: and then all kinds of weird you know, like war

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Speaker 1: on drugs esque facts, which true stories, school children are

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Speaker 1: leaving school to dig to the ground with their bare hands,

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Speaker 1: all in the search for a spud, don't don't speaking

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Speaker 1: of which been that term spud actually comes from the

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Speaker 1: hole that you dig to make the to plant the potato.

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Speaker 1: That's the sput and also refers to like a short

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Speaker 1: blunt knife that might have been used to dig those

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Speaker 1: uh those holes for for planting potatoes. I was looking

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Speaker 1: at up on the fly. I didn't know. That's awesome, man,

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Speaker 1: thank you for the I love somato biology. We also

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Speaker 1: do know why, roughly why the French band the potato.

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Speaker 1: French Parliament banned them in seventeen because they believed that

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Speaker 1: this resemblance to leprosy. Right, the way the potato reminded

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Speaker 1: them of leprosy was therefore indictative, like was therefore going

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Speaker 1: to create leprosy and people that consumed it. So they

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Speaker 1: thought they were outlawing a vector for a disease. Isn't

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Speaker 1: it funny how so much stuff was based on just

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Speaker 1: sheer observational observation alone, based on no science. But we

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Speaker 1: have to remember, though, this was the beginning of the Enlightenment,

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Speaker 1: which is partly I think why Permans got a little traction,

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Speaker 1: because people were beginning to open up their minds to

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Speaker 1: not think that way right, to be more like, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, let's just give it a try. Um, let's

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Speaker 1: try some new things. Maybe looks can be deceiving, and

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Speaker 1: it turns out he was pretty successful in that in

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Speaker 1: that campaign. Yeah, and they were also we have to

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Speaker 1: remember they were driven by starvation as much as to like,

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Speaker 1: if you if you have people who are are experiencing

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Speaker 1: food insecurity, then of course some of those social taboos

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Speaker 1: are going to loosen up a bit. Yeah, So Parmentier

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Speaker 1: does this thing that is pretty clever. He first goes

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Speaker 1: to scientific institutions, specifically the Presation Faculty of Medicine, and then,

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Speaker 1: according to Katherine Dolores, what he's after is an official

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Speaker 1: statement that potatoes are not even good for you, but

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Speaker 1: not as dangerous as they have been believed to be.

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Speaker 1: So it's kind of like he said, it's kind of

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Speaker 1: like he's he's saying, look, potatoes are on the level

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Speaker 1: of a firearm, but they're not a nuclear bob, just

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Speaker 1: say that. And because people have pretty much everybody alive

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Speaker 1: at this point in France has been alive during some

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Speaker 1: period of food and security, and there have been a

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Speaker 1: recent harvest that failed in seventeen seventy, so there was

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Speaker 1: already a prize out for anybody who could who could,

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Speaker 1: you know, offer solutions to this recurrent problem with famine,

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Speaker 1: and that they were probably expecting stuff like a new

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Speaker 1: kind of planting technique or a new kind of irrigation system.

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Speaker 1: They weren't expecting the profit of potatoes to come through.

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Speaker 1: And he went hard in the paint. He published this

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Speaker 1: essay called Quree and the Newish and Vegetables that in

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Speaker 1: times of necessity he could substitute for ordinary food breath.

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Speaker 1: Who my goodness, these uh, these titles for these essays

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Speaker 1: back then, we're not it got the job done right

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Speaker 1: so absolutely that he could consider that his like potato treatise,

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Speaker 1: and he had sort of a three pronged approach to

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Speaker 1: gaining wide acceptance of the potato. First, he needed to

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Speaker 1: get the French governments and the medical community on board,

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Speaker 1: because again there was still a little bit of vagueness

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Speaker 1: around whether the potatoes were even safe. So uh, in

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Speaker 1: seventeen seventy two, um, after he published this treatise, he

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Speaker 1: started to circulate this among government officials that he was

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Speaker 1: tight with um and people in the medical community, so

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Speaker 1: they started to be more of a conversation around it. Next,

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Speaker 1: of course, is to you know, gotta sex them up

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Speaker 1: a little bit dressed that humble pot hato up in

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Speaker 1: a nice cocktail dress and send it out on the town.

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Speaker 1: So he did that, and he started to introduce potatoes

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Speaker 1: to Paris is uh sort of bougier high society types, right, yeah,

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Speaker 1: and this is an important step. So he gets some

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Speaker 1: of the big v I P names of the day,

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Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, noted chemist in France to come

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Speaker 1: to his dinners, which are these pretty high class affairs

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Speaker 1: centered on the humble potato. And just to give you

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Speaker 1: a sense of how profoundly potato centric this was, he

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Speaker 1: would have as many as twenty courses featuring potatoes. And

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Speaker 1: it seems that this is a cool story. So Noel,

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Speaker 1: max you guys like French fries, right, you're not against

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Speaker 1: the right what kind of what? What's your favorite French

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Speaker 1: fry type or what are some of your favorites? Maxico, First,

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Speaker 1: I need to think for a second. I mean, you

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Speaker 1: can never like be like the classic MacDonald's fries. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I don't eat fast food really ever, but your high

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Speaker 1: road high road now yes, yes, somewhat yeah, but I

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00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,560
Speaker 1: mean they're just like, you know, the quintessential fries. I

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Speaker 1: mean they're over salted. There's virtually no potato to it.

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Speaker 1: It's just been deep fried. It's just a vessel for

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Speaker 1: something to be fried. And I think that makes them

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Speaker 1: pretty much amazing. I like a good home fry. I

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Speaker 1: like a potato wedge. Shout out to one of our

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Speaker 1: favorite local bars and restaurants, the Righteous Room. They do

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Speaker 1: a really really nice crispy on the outside, soft on

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Speaker 1: the inside, Serve it up with a little of that

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Speaker 1: salt and uh and a vinegar, a malt vinegar, and

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00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:47,320
Speaker 1: that's an excellent potato. But you're right, Max, I do

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Speaker 1: think the French fry, or oftentimes the potato, it can

404
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Speaker 1: be just a flavor vector, not not a vector for

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Speaker 1: disease though, right right, dive actor for disease. Hey, I'll

406
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Speaker 1: tell you I had some I get this weird thing

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Speaker 1: with steak fries. Specifically, I don't trust them because they're

408
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:08,480
Speaker 1: like they're well, they're mashed potatoes in disguise, you know,

409
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Speaker 1: like the big steak fries. But to teach their own,

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Speaker 1: the Righteous Room does kill it with the potato wedges.

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Speaker 1: Tell him, tell him we sent you. But the the

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Speaker 1: thing is, there's so many varieties of French fry. They

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Speaker 1: it's hard to believe they didn't really exist in the

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Speaker 1: US for a long time until or what would become

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Speaker 1: the US for a long time, North America and Canada

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Speaker 1: until Thomas Jefferson. This is not confirmed, but Thomas Jefferson

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Speaker 1: may have interacted with Parmentier been so inspired that he

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Speaker 1: brought back the idea for what we call the French

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Speaker 1: fry with him to Monticello and served it later at

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Speaker 1: a White House dinner. This comes to us from a

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Speaker 1: cool book called Potato, A History of the Propitious Esculent

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Speaker 1: by John Reader. Ben, do you have a preference for

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Speaker 1: a potato preparation? It can be a fry, it can

424
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:07,040
Speaker 1: be a mash uh, you know, home hash brown. I'm

425
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:11,040
Speaker 1: just interested. I almost sent you guys this picture over

426
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:13,119
Speaker 1: the weekend. I don't know if you saw it, but

427
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:17,480
Speaker 1: I cooked one of my favorite new potato recipes. It's

428
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:19,479
Speaker 1: not it's new to me, you know what I mean.

429
00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:24,560
Speaker 1: It's the have you you've heard of fondant potatoes? Yes? Yeah?

430
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 1: Is that like a scalop potato? Ben? Yeah, yeah, exactly,

431
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:31,119
Speaker 1: with cream and garlic and butter and all that. Well,

432
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,720
Speaker 1: the way I do it without selling to Parmentier is

433
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 1: just this recipe that it takes a little bit of time,

434
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 1: but it is more than worth it. You can't you

435
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:43,440
Speaker 1: do a cast iron thing? You got some time t

436
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:46,399
Speaker 1: H y m E some butter. If you look at

437
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:48,479
Speaker 1: pictures of it, you'll see what I'm talking about. Oh

438
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:50,479
Speaker 1: I see now, they're almost like they look like a scalop.

439
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:52,199
Speaker 1: They almost look like a sea scalop because of these

440
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,879
Speaker 1: little like potato stacks. That looks amazing. Now I was

441
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,959
Speaker 1: thinking more of a scalop potato um, which is uh,

442
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:03,119
Speaker 1: I believe like inly sliced layers of potato layered with

443
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,720
Speaker 1: cream and butter and garlic, and uh, it's absolutely My

444
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 1: mom makes it and made it for this Christmas in

445
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 1: July situation. But mashed potatoes were one of the any

446
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:15,560
Speaker 1: of these could have potentially been on the table literally

447
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,880
Speaker 1: at one of these dinners, one of these potatoes centric

448
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,960
Speaker 1: multi course dinners. But mashed potatoes was obviously a hit

449
00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:25,680
Speaker 1: and in a favorite and there they they persevere to

450
00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:28,560
Speaker 1: this day as like a holiday staple. And I believe

451
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,160
Speaker 1: in the the art of cookery. There is an eighteenth

452
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:36,439
Speaker 1: century recipe book written by um the English author Hannah

453
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:40,280
Speaker 1: glass um. This is believed to be the first ever

454
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:44,200
Speaker 1: recipe for mashed potatoes, and really, honestly, outside of a

455
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:46,720
Speaker 1: couple of little editions, this is pretty much the way

456
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,440
Speaker 1: it's done today. Right then, Yeah, here's the idea. It's

457
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,440
Speaker 1: one of those things where the approach is kind of like,

458
00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,480
Speaker 1: don't fix it if it's not broken. The art of

459
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:59,640
Speaker 1: cookery just says the following. Boil your potatoes, peel them,

460
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:02,480
Speaker 1: put them in a sauce pan, mash them well to

461
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,960
Speaker 1: two pounds of potatoes, put a pint of milk, a

462
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 1: little salt, stir them well together, take care they don't

463
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:10,440
Speaker 1: stick to the bottom. Then take a quarter of a

464
00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:13,600
Speaker 1: pound of butter, stir it in and serve it up.

465
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,879
Speaker 1: Pretty simple, right, Yeah. I would personally probably add some

466
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,360
Speaker 1: garlic to that, maybe a little heavy cream. I wouldn't

467
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,800
Speaker 1: peel them. I wouldn't peel them. I likes red potatoes.

468
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:26,800
Speaker 1: I like the skin on these red potatoes instead of

469
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:29,840
Speaker 1: those big baked potatoes that I think is the quintessential

470
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:32,879
Speaker 1: or rather baking potatoes that is the quintessential potato. I

471
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 1: think that we would have been thinking of in this

472
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:40,959
Speaker 1: period as well. Right to a million percent, a million percent.

473
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:46,200
Speaker 1: So this these dinners become quite the sensation and so okay,

474
00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:50,640
Speaker 1: Tier two of his three tiered plan as absolutely a success.

475
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,960
Speaker 1: I mean, Jefferson even ended up keeping a copy of

476
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:59,160
Speaker 1: that potato treatise in his presidential library at Monticello. He

477
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,520
Speaker 1: got he got compromised. Big potato got to a big

478
00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,080
Speaker 1: potato got to him. And um even like royalty got

479
00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:10,480
Speaker 1: in on the mix, like King Louis the sixteenth, I believe,

480
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:15,480
Speaker 1: uh and um Marie Antoinette um are believed to have

481
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:21,959
Speaker 1: used potato flowers, right, these beautiful purple potato flowers um

482
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:25,320
Speaker 1: as decorations for their clothes. Uh and like you know,

483
00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,720
Speaker 1: like lapel pins and and hat adornaments or whatever. So

484
00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 1: now we're into phase three one and two smashing success.

485
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 1: Where where are we going for phase three? Ah? Yes,

486
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,440
Speaker 1: this smashing or mashing success is only going to be

487
00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 1: You're welcome, audible grown from Max. We're doing this. We're

488
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,400
Speaker 1: doing this for you Max. So uh, this this stuff

489
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,120
Speaker 1: is all well and good for the upper classes, right,

490
00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,960
Speaker 1: but if you want this to have a lasting impression,

491
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,720
Speaker 1: and from Parmentier's perspective, if you want it to be

492
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,760
Speaker 1: useful to people, then it has to be useful to

493
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,280
Speaker 1: the common people. Who was that band who had that

494
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:18,719
Speaker 1: song common people is starts to the pulp Yeah, holds up.

495
00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:22,960
Speaker 1: So this guy is like, you know, potatoes need to

496
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:26,120
Speaker 1: be for the common people. Potatoes need to be something

497
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:30,920
Speaker 1: that common people do or eat. So all his publicity

498
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,840
Speaker 1: stunts aren't really getting the job done outside of the

499
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:39,320
Speaker 1: upper crust, right, the upper crust of the fry social class.

500
00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:43,480
Speaker 1: So Parmentier tries something different, doesn't he know. He goes

501
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 1: to the king and asked for a favor. He does. Yeah,

502
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,120
Speaker 1: he goes to the king, King Louis the sixteenth um

503
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 1: and requests a plot of land, a tract of land

504
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,960
Speaker 1: at Sebelan uh and that is in seventeen one. And

505
00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:00,920
Speaker 1: the King, you know, having already and impressed with the

506
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,960
Speaker 1: moxie of this uh, this pharmacists, of this pow this

507
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:09,560
Speaker 1: potato evangelists, grants him this plot of land, which Parmentier

508
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:13,760
Speaker 1: immediately turns into a potato patch. This is also this

509
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:16,720
Speaker 1: land is located on the western edge of the Paris

510
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:20,240
Speaker 1: metro area. I guess you could say, um. And then

511
00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:25,640
Speaker 1: he hired all of these heavily armed guards to kind

512
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 1: of make it a big, you know, sort of almost

513
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:32,880
Speaker 1: like theatrical show of how important these potatoes are. Um,

514
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:36,760
Speaker 1: and he thought that people would notice the guards and

515
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,840
Speaker 1: assume that potatoes were some sort of really hot new commodity.

516
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:45,640
Speaker 1: Uh and anything that's you know, being guarded so um assiduously.

517
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,600
Speaker 1: To to borrow one of your favorite words, Ben would

518
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:53,360
Speaker 1: be worth stealing. Right, Yeah, there it is. You create

519
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:58,320
Speaker 1: the buzz by sort of faking demand until you make it.

520
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:02,840
Speaker 1: You know, this is this is great, but there's even

521
00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,720
Speaker 1: goes this conspiracy goes this step further. This is the

522
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:13,360
Speaker 1: coolest heist moment of the show. So imagine Noel Max

523
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:17,760
Speaker 1: Fellow ridiculous historians listening along at home. Imagine that we

524
00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:21,960
Speaker 1: get together a hist crew. We're in France, and we

525
00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:25,000
Speaker 1: say they're guarding something secret. We're gonna bust it and

526
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,320
Speaker 1: take it because we're the best thieves there are. And

527
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:29,040
Speaker 1: so we all have our you know, it's a highst movie.

528
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:31,960
Speaker 1: We all have our specialties. Noel, I know that you

529
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:37,920
Speaker 1: have a special um proclivity for being a bagman, right bagman? Yeah,

530
00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:40,880
Speaker 1: I'm the bag man. So that's that's that's that's who

531
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:43,560
Speaker 1: I am. Um. I carry a bag typically every day,

532
00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 1: So that's why, So we won't spend too much time

533
00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:49,200
Speaker 1: on everybody else's specialties. But our highst crew goes in

534
00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,320
Speaker 1: and we pull off our heist. We discover the secret

535
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:56,680
Speaker 1: it's potatoes, and somehow, somehow we get away. Yeah, we

536
00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 1: didn't really train that much even for this. You know,

537
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:02,960
Speaker 1: we're not particularly adept heist people. You know, you don't

538
00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 1: even know what we're looking for. I don't even know

539
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:07,280
Speaker 1: what a bagman does. I just say on them batman

540
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 1: because I like to carry a bag, and then people

541
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:10,680
Speaker 1: make fun of me and call it a man first.

542
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:12,680
Speaker 1: But I'm a batman, thank you very much. But yet

543
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,040
Speaker 1: we get in and out. It's almost like these guards

544
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 1: are letting us get away with these potatoes. Why would

545
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:19,520
Speaker 1: they do that, though, Ben, Why would they do that

546
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,600
Speaker 1: because their boss told him too. You know how heist

547
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 1: movies have the stereotypical twist right in the third act

548
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:29,320
Speaker 1: or whatever, this is the third act twist. Parmentier has

549
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:34,880
Speaker 1: set up this heavily guarded situation and then he's told

550
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:38,440
Speaker 1: the guards, look, if any thieves come by, let him

551
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:41,040
Speaker 1: get away with the potatoes. This has gotta be great

552
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:43,640
Speaker 1: for the potatoes reputation. Now, in my head, he's like

553
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 1: a Hollywood producer and he's smoking a cigar. It's something

554
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:52,360
Speaker 1: he's like, there's gonna be great for the potatoes public image. Here. Look,

555
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: if any if anybody comes up and they try to

556
00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:58,640
Speaker 1: bribe you, uh, just give them some potatoes. Take the bribe,

557
00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:00,760
Speaker 1: no matter how big it is, the out of how small,

558
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:02,920
Speaker 1: whatever they could. They don't have to be money. If

559
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:04,640
Speaker 1: they come up to you with like a shoe, a

560
00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:07,040
Speaker 1: handful of dart, you'll give them up a potato. You

561
00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:10,040
Speaker 1: gotta wonder did did they Did they fire some half

562
00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:18,600
Speaker 1: asked warning shots like no, come back here you no, no,

563
00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:22,080
Speaker 1: what do you do? Bring back that potato? No? Yeah,

564
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 1: they had to have at least given put put up

565
00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 1: some sort of faux fight or else. I think the

566
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:31,000
Speaker 1: roosts would have been a little too transparent, right, a

567
00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:34,960
Speaker 1: little too obvious. Right, You have to because you know

568
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:39,200
Speaker 1: these thieves have presumably worked on their idea. It feels

569
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:42,839
Speaker 1: kind of it's kind of a deflation, isn't it. If

570
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,560
Speaker 1: you feel like, guys, we have we have these matching

571
00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:49,640
Speaker 1: dark outfits. We worked on our like silent hand signals,

572
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,040
Speaker 1: and you just let us in. At least give me

573
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:55,239
Speaker 1: a good beating or something like that, you know, and

574
00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:57,560
Speaker 1: then let me go. But no, it's true, and this

575
00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:01,479
Speaker 1: this this publicity stunt, even though isn't apparent to those

576
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,279
Speaker 1: involved that that's what it was. That is what it was,

577
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:06,920
Speaker 1: and it worked. By the way, there's a really really

578
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 1: cool article in The Farmer's Almanac also about the strange

579
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:13,920
Speaker 1: history of potatoes and the man who made them popular

580
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:18,160
Speaker 1: by Amber canuckle Um. Really good stuff on the Farmer's

581
00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:20,720
Speaker 1: Almanac dot com. Never really realized what a good resource

582
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:23,200
Speaker 1: that was, but check that one out for sure. So

583
00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:27,040
Speaker 1: he really has single handedly with his three tier approach,

584
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,400
Speaker 1: changed the hearts and minds of the of both the

585
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:35,879
Speaker 1: gentry and the lower class uh in favor of the potato. Yeah, yep.

586
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:41,120
Speaker 1: And this potato effect turned out to be a very

587
00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:46,360
Speaker 1: good thing for French agriculture. The potato fundamentally changed the

588
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:51,720
Speaker 1: productivity of these farms. It had more reliable yields than wheat,

589
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:55,759
Speaker 1: and you could grow it in the same fields that

590
00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 1: wheat grows in as long as the wheat crop was

591
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:01,920
Speaker 1: follow It was easy to grow in a lot of

592
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:06,040
Speaker 1: different varieties of soil. It was easy to farm. And

593
00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:09,080
Speaker 1: this like other people saw what was happening. Other world

594
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:13,880
Speaker 1: leaders caught on pretty quick. Catherine the Great over in Russia,

595
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:17,160
Speaker 1: King Adolph over in Sweeten. They get on board the

596
00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:22,520
Speaker 1: potato trade. And you'll read you'll read varying estimates, but

597
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:25,759
Speaker 1: one of the ones that I think is is the

598
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:29,000
Speaker 1: most optimistic comes. You know, it's quoted in this Atlas

599
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:32,560
Speaker 1: Obscura article, and they'll tell you that there are a

600
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:36,120
Speaker 1: couple of historians who believe that potatoes may have doubled

601
00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 1: Europe's food supply in terms of just pure calories, meaning

602
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:43,440
Speaker 1: that they would finally be able to break the cycle

603
00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:46,040
Speaker 1: of famine. I'm interested now, I want to see what

604
00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:50,279
Speaker 1: the calorie contents of a potato actually is, because that's

605
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:52,840
Speaker 1: a really good point. I mean, we know now, you know,

606
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:56,280
Speaker 1: potatoes are something to be avoided oftentimes because they're so carbi,

607
00:36:56,719 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 1: you know, and they're so calorically dense. But back then,

608
00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:02,120
Speaker 1: when food scarcity was much more of an issue, you

609
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,719
Speaker 1: wanted stuff that was calorically dense, that was really really important.

610
00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:09,480
Speaker 1: So it looks like uh, one hundred and sixty three

611
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:15,279
Speaker 1: calories per a medium potato, which actually isn't that insane um,

612
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,600
Speaker 1: but again it is the carbs. It has thirty seven

613
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:22,719
Speaker 1: grams of carbohydrates, which is not necessarily directly related to

614
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:25,880
Speaker 1: two calories. But I don't know, I've always been a

615
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:29,000
Speaker 1: little bit too unclear as to how carbs work. While

616
00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:33,319
Speaker 1: cutting out carbs is different than cutting calories. Yeah, well

617
00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 1: it's it's interesting because potatoes do have a lot of

618
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:41,800
Speaker 1: other stuff going on, you know, like it's it's not

619
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:45,320
Speaker 1: just carbs, right, They can be a nutritious food, but

620
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:51,719
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, right, Well, they also contain all the

621
00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 1: essential amino acids you need to build proteins. They are

622
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:59,600
Speaker 1: lacking some stuff like over time. If you it would

623
00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:03,880
Speaker 1: offer what experts call uh complete protein if you hate

624
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:06,759
Speaker 1: over ten potatoes a day, which is a lot even

625
00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:11,320
Speaker 1: for me, but you would get deficiencies in certain vitamins

626
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:15,239
Speaker 1: like vitamin B, twelve, vitamin A. People are built to

627
00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:19,120
Speaker 1: have a slightly varied diet, right, That's just how they evolved.

628
00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:23,200
Speaker 1: But still the potatoes solves a lot of problems, and

629
00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:26,359
Speaker 1: it gets kind of a bad rap, like you said, Noel,

630
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,680
Speaker 1: with the with the anti carb crowd. You know, I know,

631
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:33,080
Speaker 1: we we might have some listeners right now who are

632
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:37,440
Speaker 1: mad at us a little bit because they're like, today's

633
00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:39,840
Speaker 1: the day. Today is the day I am going to

634
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,200
Speaker 1: get fries. It's okay, We're with you. It's gonna be

635
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:46,319
Speaker 1: worth it. Everything in moderation will be okay. There's one

636
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,000
Speaker 1: big elephant in the room. There's a there's a big

637
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:51,799
Speaker 1: potato in the room that we have to address. Uh.

638
00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:58,200
Speaker 1: Fellow fans of history, you'll realize that around the late

639
00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:02,600
Speaker 1: seventeen hundreds there was some thing else happening in France,

640
00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 1: something equally revolutionary, well more revolutionary, because it's it's literally

641
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:12,080
Speaker 1: it's the French Revolution. Yeah. If you have the inspirational

642
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,200
Speaker 1: tones of the score of the original cast recording of

643
00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:18,640
Speaker 1: Les Miserabla going in your mind, um, that's because we're

644
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:21,040
Speaker 1: talking about the French Revolution. Uh. And it was the

645
00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:26,440
Speaker 1: French Revolution that potentially could have put a damper on

646
00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:31,800
Speaker 1: Permanentier's potato revolution, you know, more important revolution, one would argue,

647
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:35,239
Speaker 1: sort of took precedent, but it didn't really last. Yeah. Yeah,

648
00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:38,080
Speaker 1: So this was all happening during the lead up to

649
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:46,279
Speaker 1: this tremendous upending of French civilization society. Famine was still everywhere.

650
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:50,040
Speaker 1: Potatoes were useful, as farmers all the Night points out

651
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:55,880
Speaker 1: to help combat starvation, especially in northern France in but

652
00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:58,399
Speaker 1: of course people in other parts of France were still

653
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,200
Speaker 1: still thought potatoes were suss. As we would say nowadays.

654
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:09,120
Speaker 1: Parmentier when he published that paper we mentioned, it was

655
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 1: ignored because this basically because this paper was published in

656
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:17,640
Speaker 1: seventeen eighty nine, right before the beginning of the revolution,

657
00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:21,400
Speaker 1: and the king himself knew that Parmentier and potatoes got

658
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:25,480
Speaker 1: a bit of a raw deal there. The King eventually said,

659
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:28,759
Speaker 1: France will not forget you found food for the poor.

660
00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:33,560
Speaker 1: And think about this. It was really unpopular during the

661
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:38,560
Speaker 1: French revolutional royalty, you know, it was really connected with royalty,

662
00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:42,040
Speaker 1: right now, Parmentier. No, that's a really good point. We

663
00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:43,680
Speaker 1: we we sort of, I don't want to, I hope

664
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:46,080
Speaker 1: we didn't sound like we were saying that this treatise

665
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:49,880
Speaker 1: immediately caused the potato to explode, as you know, he

666
00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:53,520
Speaker 1: did that that bit with like the fake potato heist

667
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,520
Speaker 1: or whatever, and that did start to get folks interested

668
00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:59,719
Speaker 1: on some level. But you're right, it was still so

669
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,400
Speaker 1: sated with the wealthy. I mean, after all, they were

670
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:06,759
Speaker 1: stealing potatoes from the wealthy rather than like cultivating themselves

671
00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:08,480
Speaker 1: but the whole idea was that it would become this

672
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:19,359
Speaker 1: like staple food, and it did ultimately. It wasn't though,

673
00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:24,279
Speaker 1: until sevent that potatoes really really did start to take

674
00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:27,399
Speaker 1: off in France, and that was there was a really

675
00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:32,160
Speaker 1: important moment in that year when Madam Mary Go published

676
00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:38,440
Speaker 1: her Potato cookbook, and that then began to associate the

677
00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:43,120
Speaker 1: potato as the food for the revolutionaries, because after all,

678
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:46,640
Speaker 1: Madam America was also associated with the French Revolution. The

679
00:41:46,719 --> 00:41:51,480
Speaker 1: official title of her book was La Cuisine Republican or

680
00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:56,960
Speaker 1: The Female Republican Cook, so very much promoting these potatoes

681
00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:00,160
Speaker 1: as the food of the common people, but all so

682
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:04,279
Speaker 1: acknowledging that common people like variety as well. You don't

683
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:06,200
Speaker 1: just want to eat boiled potatoes every day. You want

684
00:42:06,239 --> 00:42:07,719
Speaker 1: to cook it in a bunch of different ways. And

685
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:09,800
Speaker 1: that is one thing that makes the potato great is

686
00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:12,520
Speaker 1: you really can cook it in lots of different ways.

687
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:14,719
Speaker 1: Boil and mash them, stick them in a stew, make

688
00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:17,360
Speaker 1: them into a fam dance, you know, layer them with

689
00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:20,319
Speaker 1: cream and butter and cheese, you know, I mean, there's

690
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:23,200
Speaker 1: so many ways you can do a potato. Shred them

691
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:27,080
Speaker 1: straight up, fry them twice, bake, put them around stuff,

692
00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:29,600
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Throw them in the air

693
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:33,279
Speaker 1: like confetti, little shreds hash brown and try to catch

694
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:35,759
Speaker 1: them in your mouth. I think that's more technique than

695
00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:38,640
Speaker 1: a dish. But you see what we're saying. They're versatile definitely,

696
00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:41,719
Speaker 1: and you know, if we're getting functional here for for

697
00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:43,840
Speaker 1: a moment, I do want to say I learned recently.

698
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:45,800
Speaker 1: I have a mandolin. You know that you used to

699
00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:48,839
Speaker 1: shred the potatoes to make. By the way, wash your

700
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:51,560
Speaker 1: hands on those. Use the little plastic nub that it

701
00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:53,320
Speaker 1: comes with. Don't just think you can do it with

702
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:56,319
Speaker 1: your hand, because you will get slices on your hand.

703
00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:59,080
Speaker 1: Those things are don't joke. Yeah, go more slowly than

704
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:01,319
Speaker 1: you think you should. Agreed, But here's the thing. When

705
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:04,120
Speaker 1: you're making hash browns, the key is to rinse the

706
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:08,000
Speaker 1: potato shrugs so you get that starch off and that's

707
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:10,239
Speaker 1: what causes them to fry up much more nice and

708
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:12,520
Speaker 1: cris believe. You can put them in a bowl of

709
00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:16,600
Speaker 1: water twenty minutes or so. Yeah, it's perfect and you

710
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:19,160
Speaker 1: can see the water changed too, And then you squeeze

711
00:43:19,239 --> 00:43:21,279
Speaker 1: them with like paper towels or something to get that

712
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:23,800
Speaker 1: excess of moisture out. Yeah, I haven't figured out what

713
00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:26,520
Speaker 1: to do with the starch water, but I'm convinced I can.

714
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:29,640
Speaker 1: I can figure out something. It won't just be wastewater anyway.

715
00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:32,279
Speaker 1: You're right, uh, and we you can tell we think

716
00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:37,000
Speaker 1: a lot about potatoes because we're big fans. Also, the

717
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:41,920
Speaker 1: person you just mentioned, Madam Mary Go just to be

718
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:46,319
Speaker 1: completely clear, when we say that she's a Republican, we're

719
00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:51,440
Speaker 1: talking about it in the French revolutionary Yeah, right, the

720
00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:54,279
Speaker 1: republic very different thing than the way it would be

721
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:58,800
Speaker 1: used in the United States today. But after this becomes

722
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:03,919
Speaker 1: accepted as the food for the revolutionaries, by the next year,

723
00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:08,600
Speaker 1: tons of people are growing potatoes because they're a quick,

724
00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:14,400
Speaker 1: efficient way to feed the forces of the rebellion during

725
00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:19,120
Speaker 1: long sieges. So in the end, Parmontier survives the revolution

726
00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:23,880
Speaker 1: and he keeps his head, which not everybody does spoiler alert,

727
00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:28,879
Speaker 1: and he is accepted back into society because he's thought

728
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:32,320
Speaker 1: of more's the potato guy. Then he is as a

729
00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:36,520
Speaker 1: friend of the king. The revolutionaries also recognized his expertise

730
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:38,279
Speaker 1: and they thought, you know, this guy can feed a

731
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:41,040
Speaker 1: lot of people. He was right about potatoes. Let's just

732
00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:43,279
Speaker 1: if we let him keep his head, let's see what

733
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:46,959
Speaker 1: else he comes up with. His job security increased during

734
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:51,240
Speaker 1: the rule of Napoleon because Napoleon was all about making

735
00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:56,279
Speaker 1: France self sufficient during the war across Europe. By this point,

736
00:44:56,400 --> 00:45:00,600
Speaker 1: Parmontier's work and had expanded past potato does He gets

737
00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:03,000
Speaker 1: a lot of credit for potatoes today, and rightly so

738
00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:06,000
Speaker 1: for popularizing them, But that wasn't all he was into.

739
00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:09,120
Speaker 1: He was he wanted to know more about corn. He

740
00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:12,239
Speaker 1: saw a lot of potential in beat sugar. I wanted

741
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:16,120
Speaker 1: to ask you, uh Nold Max beat sugar. Have you

742
00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:18,680
Speaker 1: guys ever used that in anything? Is it a sweetener?

743
00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:21,279
Speaker 1: You know? It feels like it might have been the

744
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:24,960
Speaker 1: B side if his if his food research were an album.

745
00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:28,239
Speaker 1: I feel like beat sugar is like track number two

746
00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:30,560
Speaker 1: or three on the B side. Oh yeah, you can

747
00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:33,280
Speaker 1: get it like in in bags like you would sugar

748
00:45:33,320 --> 00:45:35,000
Speaker 1: in the raw. It kind of looks like it's branded

749
00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:38,920
Speaker 1: the same way, So you definitely could use beat sugar

750
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:42,000
Speaker 1: to sweeten things for baking. I do know that beats

751
00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:45,360
Speaker 1: are part of the reason that like impossible burgers bleed

752
00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:49,239
Speaker 1: quote unquote, that's true. So there's beat sugar in those

753
00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:51,799
Speaker 1: as well, But no, I haven't messed with that. Although

754
00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:55,200
Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan of beats, of roasting beats, and

755
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:58,600
Speaker 1: that's one thing I growing up only knew the slimy,

756
00:45:58,719 --> 00:46:02,800
Speaker 1: gelatinous beats that's slid out of a kid, which is

757
00:46:02,920 --> 00:46:05,800
Speaker 1: not what they are at all. And a nice roasted

758
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:09,840
Speaker 1: beat with some goat cheese and maybe some grilled pears

759
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:12,920
Speaker 1: or something like that over some rugula, that is what's up.

760
00:46:13,239 --> 00:46:15,279
Speaker 1: Get some dried figs in there too, you know what

761
00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:17,920
Speaker 1: I mean. Class it up. Don't be afraid impress whoever

762
00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:19,719
Speaker 1: you're dating. All I'm saying is anyone out there that

763
00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:23,120
Speaker 1: thinks they think beats are gross, Try taking a golden

764
00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:25,800
Speaker 1: beat and just drizzling it with literally you leave the

765
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:27,920
Speaker 1: skin on, drizzling with olive oil, little salt, wrap it

766
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:30,400
Speaker 1: in a tinfoil bacon in the oven at three fifty

767
00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:33,080
Speaker 1: for like, I don't know, twenty minutes maybe, and then

768
00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:35,560
Speaker 1: you just wipe the skin off with a paper towel

769
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:38,239
Speaker 1: or a kitchen rag and it just comes right off.

770
00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:39,759
Speaker 1: And then you slice them, and I swear they're the

771
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:41,520
Speaker 1: most I don't know, how would you describe describe it

772
00:46:41,560 --> 00:46:44,759
Speaker 1: as earthy, kind of grassy, but also sweets and um

773
00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:47,320
Speaker 1: really really nice in us. Yeah, and you can do

774
00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:52,239
Speaker 1: these in slices as well. Like roasted beats way to go.

775
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:55,560
Speaker 1: You can make that your own. I would say I

776
00:46:55,719 --> 00:46:59,640
Speaker 1: typically do it for like thirty five minutes or so forty,

777
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:02,520
Speaker 1: just because I like him super crispy. Throw some time

778
00:47:02,680 --> 00:47:04,600
Speaker 1: on there, you know what I mean. You can throw

779
00:47:04,719 --> 00:47:08,279
Speaker 1: some uh a little bit of salt and pepper anyway, Yes,

780
00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:11,480
Speaker 1: Parmentier was really into sugar. We think beats get a

781
00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:14,480
Speaker 1: bad name. No, parsnips are pretty good too, although I

782
00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:17,200
Speaker 1: don't think Parmentier worked with him. Parsnips have had a

783
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:20,200
Speaker 1: hard time with it. I've never cooked them. I've tried

784
00:47:20,239 --> 00:47:21,960
Speaker 1: them a couple of times, and I've always found that

785
00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:24,120
Speaker 1: I've undercooked them and that they're very tough, and I

786
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:26,520
Speaker 1: think you really have to get them just right. Yeah, yeah,

787
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:28,080
Speaker 1: there's a there's a way to roast them, but they

788
00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:30,719
Speaker 1: can be they could be a little bit finicky. We

789
00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:34,440
Speaker 1: can't wait to hear more of your specific food recipes

790
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:38,680
Speaker 1: from history. But like we said, Napoleon is digging Parmentier.

791
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:41,560
Speaker 1: He's like the Napoleon is thinking, all right, this guy

792
00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:45,399
Speaker 1: more potato guy than he is a royalist, so he'll

793
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:48,240
Speaker 1: help us with this. He'll help us beat sugar and corn.

794
00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:51,520
Speaker 1: In fact, Napoleon is enough of a fan of Parmentier

795
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:57,239
Speaker 1: that eventually he gives him the Legion of Hotter. That's

796
00:47:57,239 --> 00:48:00,719
Speaker 1: sort of like the presidential Medal of Freedom or something. Yeah,

797
00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:03,920
Speaker 1: it's it's similar. The Legion of Honor is the highest

798
00:48:04,120 --> 00:48:07,279
Speaker 1: order of merit you can get in France, whether you

799
00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:12,080
Speaker 1: are military or a civilian. It was established in eighteen

800
00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:16,000
Speaker 1: o two by Napoleon himself. Very cool. Well, I think,

801
00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:19,879
Speaker 1: well deserved. I don't know, there's really nothing particularly problematic

802
00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:22,799
Speaker 1: in this dude's story, right, which I thought was kind

803
00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:26,120
Speaker 1: of interesting, because usually there's some agenda or like, even

804
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:28,560
Speaker 1: if something takes off, it's usually being done for some

805
00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:31,360
Speaker 1: like weird nefarious purpose. But I think this guy just

806
00:48:31,480 --> 00:48:35,040
Speaker 1: realized again he came from suffering this, This whole experience

807
00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:38,400
Speaker 1: came from him being jailed, you know, or imprisoned by

808
00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:41,560
Speaker 1: the Prussians during the war and him realizing that potatoes

809
00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:43,200
Speaker 1: were getting a bad rap, and then he actually just

810
00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:46,560
Speaker 1: really liked them. And if you read his letters and

811
00:48:46,719 --> 00:48:49,920
Speaker 1: his writings about potatoes, you could really tell the guy

812
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:52,400
Speaker 1: just really liked the potato and wanted everyone else too

813
00:48:52,440 --> 00:48:55,279
Speaker 1: as well, and saw the potential for it in a

814
00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:59,759
Speaker 1: world where food wasn't for everybody, or at least abundance

815
00:48:59,840 --> 00:49:03,080
Speaker 1: of food wasn't for everybody. You know, it was reserved

816
00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:05,840
Speaker 1: for the upper classes. And I don't think he approved

817
00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:07,800
Speaker 1: of approved of that. He wanted to, you know, have

818
00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:10,120
Speaker 1: everyone be fed and believe that everyone deserves to have

819
00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:13,640
Speaker 1: a full belly. So I think that's pretty awesome. Yeah, agreed.

820
00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:18,120
Speaker 1: And you know, after he was granted this legion of honor,

821
00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:22,400
Speaker 1: he passed away peacefully in eighteen thirteen. He was seventy

822
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:24,680
Speaker 1: six years old, buried in Paris, and if you go

823
00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:29,040
Speaker 1: there even today, you will see that his plot, his

824
00:49:29,239 --> 00:49:33,799
Speaker 1: grave is surrounded by potato plants, and some people when

825
00:49:33,880 --> 00:49:38,200
Speaker 1: they go to visit, they leave potato on his grave

826
00:49:38,680 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 1: as as a way of saying thank you. What I

827
00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:44,319
Speaker 1: think is amazing about this is the more we looked

828
00:49:44,360 --> 00:49:47,319
Speaker 1: into this, well, the more I was convinced this guy

829
00:49:47,560 --> 00:49:51,839
Speaker 1: was like a earlier version of Norman Borlog. I had

830
00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:54,839
Speaker 1: this series I did a while ago, years and years ago,

831
00:49:55,480 --> 00:49:58,800
Speaker 1: animated series called Stuff of Genius, which was all about

832
00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:03,000
Speaker 1: inventors and the inventions that change the world. And Norman

833
00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:07,080
Speaker 1: Borlog is a guy who was like Parmon Tier. He

834
00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:10,640
Speaker 1: was an agronomous and he is often called the father

835
00:50:10,960 --> 00:50:13,879
Speaker 1: of the Green Revolution. He went on to save over

836
00:50:14,239 --> 00:50:18,120
Speaker 1: like a billion people from starvation, and Parmentier was doing

837
00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:22,399
Speaker 1: a very similar thing with the potato. He he has

838
00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:26,440
Speaker 1: a legacy that remains with us today. There he's like,

839
00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:29,280
Speaker 1: you know, I think it was Atlas Obscura that called

840
00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:33,160
Speaker 1: him like the Johnny apple seed of the tato. Yeah, no,

841
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:36,880
Speaker 1: it's absolutely accurate. It was. It was that atics Obscure article. Uh, specifically,

842
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:40,040
Speaker 1: Jim Clark made that excellent comparison. I love that and

843
00:50:40,120 --> 00:50:44,040
Speaker 1: it's totally true. Um. He is to this day remembered

844
00:50:44,160 --> 00:50:48,040
Speaker 1: in you know, the culinary tradition of French cooking. There

845
00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:50,359
Speaker 1: are quite a few dishes that are named after him.

846
00:50:50,560 --> 00:50:53,440
Speaker 1: One of my favorite soups in the whole world potato

847
00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:56,839
Speaker 1: and leek soup, a version of that called pottage Parmentier,

848
00:50:57,120 --> 00:50:59,520
Speaker 1: which is exactly just that. You can find a recipe

849
00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:04,880
Speaker 1: or pormontage partier on the Farmer's Almanac. Just look for

850
00:51:05,160 --> 00:51:08,080
Speaker 1: potato leak soup recipe on the Farmer's Almanac and will

851
00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:10,439
Speaker 1: give you a little bit of that history. Uh. There's

852
00:51:10,440 --> 00:51:13,000
Speaker 1: also like a version of this served cold. It's called

853
00:51:14,160 --> 00:51:16,080
Speaker 1: not not not for me, not into a cold soup.

854
00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:20,319
Speaker 1: But you know, I'm not a not a gaspacho guy,

855
00:51:20,400 --> 00:51:23,319
Speaker 1: but I love a good hot potato and leak soup.

856
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:27,600
Speaker 1: And there's another one um called hot cheese parmentier that's

857
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:30,000
Speaker 1: a lot like a shepherd's pie, you know, with like

858
00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:33,919
Speaker 1: different ground beef and vegetables and corn and stuff of course,

859
00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:37,439
Speaker 1: you know, topped with mashed potatoes and hopefully some nice

860
00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:42,560
Speaker 1: um crisped cheese. And this this is where we find

861
00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:47,000
Speaker 1: ourselves today. According to the United Nations, the potato has

862
00:51:47,040 --> 00:51:50,480
Speaker 1: grown in virtually every country that can do so in

863
00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:53,880
Speaker 1: some in some form or fashion and some scale. And

864
00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:58,120
Speaker 1: that makes it the world's fourth most important food crop.

865
00:51:58,320 --> 00:52:01,719
Speaker 1: So go you potato, and thay you Peru. Oh and

866
00:52:01,800 --> 00:52:05,080
Speaker 1: speaking of Peru, ben I didn't realize the Peruvians also

867
00:52:05,200 --> 00:52:09,279
Speaker 1: had like a method for freeze drying potatoes to keep

868
00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:12,759
Speaker 1: themselves like in you know, in potatoes, in case there

869
00:52:12,840 --> 00:52:15,920
Speaker 1: was a blight or a crop shortage. And those freeze

870
00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:20,000
Speaker 1: dried potato flakes are kind of the like early version

871
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:23,279
Speaker 1: of what we know today is instant mashed potatoes. Yeah,

872
00:52:23,360 --> 00:52:27,120
Speaker 1: I remember reading that. That's pretty that's pretty amazing as well.

873
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:30,400
Speaker 1: And that just goes to show you how long or

874
00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:34,320
Speaker 1: how long people in Prue had been working with this

875
00:52:34,600 --> 00:52:38,160
Speaker 1: native produce. No, although I know what's the end of

876
00:52:38,200 --> 00:52:41,040
Speaker 1: our story and this episode is has been going a

877
00:52:41,160 --> 00:52:45,160
Speaker 1: little bit long, there is one last myth I believe

878
00:52:45,280 --> 00:52:49,800
Speaker 1: we absolutely must bust or we must at least address,

879
00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:54,000
Speaker 1: which is I. I went to Belgium a while back.

880
00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:55,880
Speaker 1: You remember that I was. I was in Brussels for

881
00:52:55,960 --> 00:52:59,439
Speaker 1: a minute, and one of the one of the things

882
00:52:59,520 --> 00:53:02,600
Speaker 1: that my friends told me as we were landing on

883
00:53:02,680 --> 00:53:05,800
Speaker 1: the plane is, you know, don't call them French fries.

884
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:09,840
Speaker 1: You can ask for palem free the fried potatoes, but

885
00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:13,160
Speaker 1: do not call them French fries. Because you see, folks

886
00:53:13,239 --> 00:53:18,200
Speaker 1: both France and Belgium claim to be the inventors of

887
00:53:18,320 --> 00:53:21,279
Speaker 1: what we call French fries in the US and h

888
00:53:21,960 --> 00:53:24,440
Speaker 1: people are still going back and forth because now it's

889
00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:29,640
Speaker 1: become a matter of national pride. Just save fries. Just

890
00:53:29,800 --> 00:53:34,520
Speaker 1: say palem free in France or in Belgium. Be very

891
00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:37,520
Speaker 1: careful with it. Yeah, Fried's just really means like fries

892
00:53:37,960 --> 00:53:41,600
Speaker 1: um and palem is the French word for potato, so

893
00:53:41,880 --> 00:53:44,720
Speaker 1: it's true. Uh, And honestly, French fries it just sounds

894
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:48,440
Speaker 1: like a dumb American alliterative kind of like, uh, you know,

895
00:53:48,880 --> 00:53:51,400
Speaker 1: way of referring to something because we don't feel like

896
00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:54,040
Speaker 1: learning the language or what was that thing where people

897
00:53:54,080 --> 00:53:59,959
Speaker 1: are like, oh, now, so lame. Also, I love the idea.

898
00:54:00,120 --> 00:54:04,120
Speaker 1: U Um. I'd love to hear about the way American

899
00:54:04,200 --> 00:54:07,120
Speaker 1: cuisine is depicted or the way US cuisine is depicted

900
00:54:07,360 --> 00:54:09,800
Speaker 1: in other parts of the world. I was in a

901
00:54:09,880 --> 00:54:13,279
Speaker 1: grocery store one time that had an American isle and

902
00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:17,120
Speaker 1: it was just junk food and peanut butter and one

903
00:54:17,239 --> 00:54:20,440
Speaker 1: like very sugary cereal. That's hilarious. That's almost like a

904
00:54:20,600 --> 00:54:24,160
Speaker 1: disc isle. I love that, Yeah, decile. It was a

905
00:54:24,280 --> 00:54:27,719
Speaker 1: distract from the grocery store. And I think we don't

906
00:54:27,719 --> 00:54:30,320
Speaker 1: know it's probably from the movie pulp fiction, or probably

907
00:54:30,320 --> 00:54:33,160
Speaker 1: possibly from from travels or whatever. But uh. In Belgium,

908
00:54:33,640 --> 00:54:36,319
Speaker 1: they don't put ketchup on their French fries. It's all

909
00:54:36,360 --> 00:54:38,799
Speaker 1: about mayonnaise. And I have adopted that and I think

910
00:54:38,840 --> 00:54:41,040
Speaker 1: it's awesome. Um. But I know some people are very

911
00:54:41,080 --> 00:54:44,359
Speaker 1: triggered by mayonnaise, but it's good fries and mayonnaise, quick good.

912
00:54:44,680 --> 00:54:46,480
Speaker 1: You know what I'll do. It's terrible for your help,

913
00:54:46,560 --> 00:54:50,359
Speaker 1: but no question. And cheese sauce. Yeah, I'm not gonna

914
00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:53,040
Speaker 1: say no to it. Especially it was potato wedges at

915
00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:57,800
Speaker 1: our local establishment. Dude, cheese dip and wedges at the

916
00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:00,480
Speaker 1: Righteous Room is like the off menu, I them. It's

917
00:55:00,520 --> 00:55:03,080
Speaker 1: like the secret menu at in an out burger. You

918
00:55:03,160 --> 00:55:05,080
Speaker 1: gotta you gotta try if you come to if you

919
00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:09,520
Speaker 1: come to our our our neighborhood. Highly recommend yes, yes,

920
00:55:09,800 --> 00:55:15,720
Speaker 1: highly recommended. Uh. And thank you to Parmentier for popularizing

921
00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:19,520
Speaker 1: the potato because you know, in my head that means

922
00:55:19,640 --> 00:55:24,600
Speaker 1: that he is in some way responsible for all of

923
00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:29,279
Speaker 1: the potato recipes that you're produced after that point, you know,

924
00:55:29,520 --> 00:55:32,719
Speaker 1: So thank you Parmenter, the potato man. You know another

925
00:55:32,719 --> 00:55:34,440
Speaker 1: thing I didn't think about. We may be alluded to

926
00:55:34,480 --> 00:55:36,480
Speaker 1: it a little bit, but potatoes keep for quite a

927
00:55:36,560 --> 00:55:38,920
Speaker 1: long time, just out, you know what I mean, like

928
00:55:39,040 --> 00:55:41,279
Speaker 1: out in a bowl in a dish on your on

929
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:44,840
Speaker 1: your kitchen counter, before they start to get gross, or

930
00:55:44,880 --> 00:55:46,719
Speaker 1: like grow the even when they do grow, those little

931
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:50,320
Speaker 1: eyes or those little tubers. They're still absolutely usable. I

932
00:55:50,440 --> 00:55:53,040
Speaker 1: have some red potatoes that I've been meaning to cook

933
00:55:53,280 --> 00:55:55,640
Speaker 1: that I think I'm gonna follow the lead of our

934
00:55:55,719 --> 00:55:58,279
Speaker 1: of our subject today and uh and and freak you

935
00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:00,960
Speaker 1: see up something for lunch. Because they're also very versatile

936
00:56:01,160 --> 00:56:03,880
Speaker 1: and a good kind of base for using stuff in

937
00:56:03,960 --> 00:56:07,120
Speaker 1: your fridge that maybe you need to use. Uh make

938
00:56:07,160 --> 00:56:09,439
Speaker 1: a little uh, you know, like a little stir fry

939
00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:11,839
Speaker 1: with some potatoes and some vegetables. Maybe add an egg

940
00:56:11,880 --> 00:56:13,919
Speaker 1: in there, you know, I think I'm gonna I'm gonna

941
00:56:13,960 --> 00:56:17,120
Speaker 1: do that. Yeah. Nice. Yeah, they're hardy to they're they're

942
00:56:17,280 --> 00:56:21,680
Speaker 1: durable and tough to kill. In fact, during the Great Depression, Uh,

943
00:56:21,920 --> 00:56:25,640
Speaker 1: some of my ancestors were able to survive because they

944
00:56:25,719 --> 00:56:29,800
Speaker 1: found a frozen potato patch. Which is a strange and

945
00:56:29,960 --> 00:56:33,640
Speaker 1: inspiring of tragic story. But let's not end on a

946
00:56:33,800 --> 00:56:39,560
Speaker 1: note like that. Off air ridiculous historians. Noel uh and

947
00:56:39,719 --> 00:56:43,200
Speaker 1: Max and I were talking and Max, there's something that

948
00:56:43,280 --> 00:56:46,200
Speaker 1: you've had on your mind since we've started this episode.

949
00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:49,680
Speaker 1: Is that true? That is correct? There was this map

950
00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:51,640
Speaker 1: that came out you guys know those maps that it's

951
00:56:51,640 --> 00:56:54,560
Speaker 1: like the most googled blank by state and stuff like that.

952
00:56:55,600 --> 00:56:59,520
Speaker 1: So there's this one from Zippia. Zippia, I've never used

953
00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:02,520
Speaker 1: the website for. It's a job recruiting website called what

954
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:07,480
Speaker 1: job each state Google's more than any other, and it

955
00:57:07,719 --> 00:57:09,600
Speaker 1: is one of the most enjoyable maps I've ever read

956
00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:11,000
Speaker 1: in my entire life. So, like, a few of them

957
00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:16,240
Speaker 1: are pretty normal, like Wisconsin is beer brewer, Minnesota's lumberjack,

958
00:57:16,600 --> 00:57:22,080
Speaker 1: and Nevada is bus driver. Okay, but some of them

959
00:57:22,120 --> 00:57:26,320
Speaker 1: get a little strange. So California is lion tamer um,

960
00:57:26,480 --> 00:57:30,200
Speaker 1: New York is professional cuddler, and my personal favorite word

961
00:57:30,280 --> 00:57:35,200
Speaker 1: one North Carolina is pirate. Wow. Okay, yes, I'm sorry.

962
00:57:35,240 --> 00:57:38,720
Speaker 1: These are aspirational jobs. These are just what job each

963
00:57:38,800 --> 00:57:43,360
Speaker 1: state Google's more than any other of this. Yeah, so

964
00:57:43,520 --> 00:57:47,120
Speaker 1: I could argue you could argue aspirational jobs, right, But

965
00:57:47,280 --> 00:57:49,440
Speaker 1: the reason why I actually no, I want to keep

966
00:57:49,560 --> 00:57:51,120
Speaker 1: that because the reason I bring this up is we

967
00:57:51,200 --> 00:57:55,400
Speaker 1: gotta go to America's frozen wetland, which is of course Ohio,

968
00:57:55,840 --> 00:57:57,480
Speaker 1: which if you've ever been to that state, you will

969
00:57:57,560 --> 00:58:00,400
Speaker 1: understand why I say that their number one on most

970
00:58:00,440 --> 00:58:08,680
Speaker 1: Google job is just potato. That's what aspirational. Indeed, so

971
00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:12,200
Speaker 1: I think that's what Noel Gallagher called his brother Liam.

972
00:58:12,240 --> 00:58:15,600
Speaker 1: I believe you called him a potato, which is also

973
00:58:15,760 --> 00:58:19,760
Speaker 1: a very underappreciated emoji. Just a potato, you know, A

974
00:58:20,000 --> 00:58:23,800
Speaker 1: big fan. I also love if we're talking British insults. First,

975
00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:26,040
Speaker 1: well done, Max, thank you for that. I mean, I'm

976
00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:28,160
Speaker 1: going to be bothered by that for a while. But

977
00:58:28,680 --> 00:58:32,480
Speaker 1: for British insults, which always impressed me. I was hanging

978
00:58:32,520 --> 00:58:36,400
Speaker 1: out in pont City Market pre pandemic, which is where

979
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:39,640
Speaker 1: our office is based in Atlanta, Georgia, and I heard

980
00:58:40,560 --> 00:58:44,240
Speaker 1: a British person called someone else a shape as an

981
00:58:44,280 --> 00:58:48,720
Speaker 1: insult s h ape. They said, you've been shape, which

982
00:58:48,840 --> 00:58:53,760
Speaker 1: is like good, good insult for reasons I don't understand,

983
00:58:53,840 --> 00:58:56,040
Speaker 1: and I think you need the accent to pull it off.

984
00:58:56,160 --> 00:59:00,520
Speaker 1: Did you know that the if I'm not mistaken, Michael Myers,

985
00:59:00,680 --> 00:59:04,320
Speaker 1: the character in the Halloween movies, is referred to you

986
00:59:04,480 --> 00:59:08,320
Speaker 1: as the shape. I wish I had learned more about

987
00:59:08,440 --> 00:59:11,200
Speaker 1: the context of that situation. It's just hard to stop

988
00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:14,640
Speaker 1: people and say, like, excuse me, sir, I am not British,

989
00:59:14,760 --> 00:59:19,200
Speaker 1: but I do respect the insults employed by your culture.

990
00:59:19,560 --> 00:59:23,520
Speaker 1: Last thing, another British chism with shape is an expression

991
00:59:23,640 --> 00:59:27,919
Speaker 1: for dancing is throwing shapes. So I would I would

992
00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:29,920
Speaker 1: say in that context. You know, like I said, it's

993
00:59:29,960 --> 00:59:32,080
Speaker 1: tough to go in there and say like, excuse me,

994
00:59:32,680 --> 00:59:34,680
Speaker 1: I'm not British, I know what's going on. But I'd

995
00:59:34,760 --> 00:59:37,160
Speaker 1: love to learn a little more about this context because

996
00:59:37,160 --> 00:59:38,720
Speaker 1: I want to see if I can pull off shape

997
00:59:38,760 --> 00:59:42,680
Speaker 1: as an insult. So what is your deal, sir? Uh?

998
00:59:44,080 --> 00:59:45,920
Speaker 1: You know what? Before yeah, before we go, I do

999
00:59:46,040 --> 00:59:48,960
Speaker 1: have to ask Max, what is the job people are

1000
00:59:49,040 --> 00:59:52,680
Speaker 1: googling the most in Georgia. I'm glad you're asked, because

1001
00:59:52,880 --> 00:59:57,760
Speaker 1: if you live in Atlanta, this makes sense. It is tripper. Wow.

1002
00:59:58,240 --> 01:00:02,000
Speaker 1: Did not see that coming. Neither did I, but it should.

1003
01:00:02,000 --> 01:00:05,920
Speaker 1: It tracts if anyone's interested in some more like Atlanta

1004
01:00:06,040 --> 01:00:08,720
Speaker 1: centric kind of jokes and memes. There's a couple of

1005
01:00:08,800 --> 01:00:11,240
Speaker 1: really good Instagram accounts. I believe one is just called

1006
01:00:11,280 --> 01:00:14,640
Speaker 1: Atlanta Memes or something like that. Um, you can meme

1007
01:00:14,720 --> 01:00:17,960
Speaker 1: like a local, you can't. Yeah, it didn't see it

1008
01:00:18,040 --> 01:00:20,320
Speaker 1: come in the way. France didn't see the potato on

1009
01:00:20,440 --> 01:00:24,240
Speaker 1: the way. But that's how history works. Uh, No, thank

1010
01:00:24,320 --> 01:00:27,000
Speaker 1: you for this. What what a cool ride. Any any

1011
01:00:27,080 --> 01:00:30,200
Speaker 1: excuse to talk about food is a good episode for me.

1012
01:00:30,680 --> 01:00:35,960
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear everybody's epic potato related recipes or moments. Uh.

1013
01:00:36,080 --> 01:00:37,880
Speaker 1: And thank you, of course to the one and only

1014
01:00:37,920 --> 01:00:40,880
Speaker 1: Max Williams. Ben. Are those potato fondas are they just

1015
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:43,520
Speaker 1: like like cookie cutter like cut out like a scallop?

1016
01:00:43,640 --> 01:00:45,640
Speaker 1: Or are they layered? Because I'm looking at the pictures

1017
01:00:45,680 --> 01:00:48,360
Speaker 1: of them? Yeah? Yeah, So what you what I like

1018
01:00:48,520 --> 01:00:51,040
Speaker 1: to do is take a take a pretty good medium

1019
01:00:51,120 --> 01:00:55,320
Speaker 1: sized potato, You peel it, you chop the the ends off,

1020
01:00:55,720 --> 01:00:59,040
Speaker 1: and then you usually if it's a medium potato, you

1021
01:00:59,080 --> 01:01:01,200
Speaker 1: can get about two of lenders out of it. So

1022
01:01:01,320 --> 01:01:04,760
Speaker 1: you cut that in half, and then you take whichever

1023
01:01:04,960 --> 01:01:08,200
Speaker 1: half is the most even it's usually where you made

1024
01:01:08,240 --> 01:01:10,560
Speaker 1: the cut in the middle, uh, and then you just

1025
01:01:10,880 --> 01:01:14,840
Speaker 1: you PLoP them down with some uh with oil. Initially

1026
01:01:15,200 --> 01:01:17,120
Speaker 1: get us a cast iron pan, and you finish them

1027
01:01:17,160 --> 01:01:19,000
Speaker 1: in the oven. So it's a whole thing. But if

1028
01:01:19,080 --> 01:01:22,040
Speaker 1: you want like eight of those little cylinders, just get

1029
01:01:22,120 --> 01:01:25,680
Speaker 1: four potatoes. Got it? Got it? And like Ben said,

1030
01:01:25,720 --> 01:01:28,320
Speaker 1: let us know your favorite potato recipes. We're still working

1031
01:01:28,360 --> 01:01:30,800
Speaker 1: on getting that sort of down. You don't think it'd

1032
01:01:30,800 --> 01:01:33,920
Speaker 1: be that difficult, but I promise it'll happen. I'm in

1033
01:01:34,000 --> 01:01:37,400
Speaker 1: the meantime, Please reach out to us as individuals on Instagram.

1034
01:01:37,520 --> 01:01:40,200
Speaker 1: I am at how Now Noel Brown, and you can

1035
01:01:40,360 --> 01:01:43,240
Speaker 1: find me on Instagram. In a burst of creativity, I've

1036
01:01:43,320 --> 01:01:46,600
Speaker 1: named myself at Ben Bull and you can also find

1037
01:01:46,640 --> 01:01:52,479
Speaker 1: our super producer Max Williams at Potato Fan and Holy

1038
01:01:52,600 --> 01:01:54,560
Speaker 1: Cow Ban. You just send a test the email to

1039
01:01:54,760 --> 01:01:57,960
Speaker 1: ridiculous at I heart media dot com and it appears

1040
01:01:58,040 --> 01:02:01,600
Speaker 1: to have worked. Well, that's good news. Uh, maybe maybe

1041
01:02:01,680 --> 01:02:04,880
Speaker 1: I'll get it as well. Well, we'll see, We'll see,

1042
01:02:04,960 --> 01:02:08,040
Speaker 1: but it does look like our email addresses up and running.

1043
01:02:08,200 --> 01:02:11,880
Speaker 1: Thanks of course to Casey Pegram. Thanks to Alex Williams,

1044
01:02:11,920 --> 01:02:18,160
Speaker 1: who composed this banging track it's probably playing lightly right now, definitely,

1045
01:02:18,440 --> 01:02:20,760
Speaker 1: And thanks to you Ben, and thanks to you Noel.

1046
01:02:21,320 --> 01:02:25,240
Speaker 1: Thanks to one of our favorite potatoes, Jonathan Strickland ak

1047
01:02:25,520 --> 01:02:34,840
Speaker 1: the question. We'll see you next time, folks. For more

1048
01:02:34,920 --> 01:02:37,360
Speaker 1: podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,

1049
01:02:37,400 --> 01:02:40,480
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.