As you probably know the potato comes originally from Peru and they even have some 3,000 different varieties growing there! The United Nations considered them to be so important that they officially declared 2008 to be the Year of the Potato! 

La Papa is the word for potato in Spanish, plural is las Papas, not to be confused with El Papa, which is the Pope! Potatoes are the world's fourth largest food crop, after rice, wheat, and maize. One always thinks of the Chinese as rice growers, but the truth is that China now has the largest potato crop in the world!

Peruvian Cuisine naturally contains the potato as a primary ingredient in many of its dishes. Some of the more famous dishes include Papa a la huancaína and Papa rellena. French-fried potatoes are a typical ingredient in some Peruvian dishes too, including the classic Lomo Saltado dish.

Potato vs sweet potato

The English word potato comes from the Spanish patata (the name used in Spain). The Spanish Royal Academy however, says the Spanish word is a compound of the Taino batata (sweet potato) and the Quechua papa (potato). This probably indicates that originally, the potato was regarded as a type of sweet potato rather than the other way around, despite the fact that there is actually no close relationship between the two plants at all.

Potatoes in art

Potatoes has been so prevalent in Peruvian food, that even Pre-Inca cultures featured them in their ceramics! They have also made their appearance in modern art and Ginou Choueiri has chosen the potato to portray the human face due to the many striking parallels: the porosity of the skin, the similarity of colour, and also the fact that like people, they come in different shapes and sizes. He has made portraits of friends, family, people he has come across, as well as politicians and pop stars. 

Easy potato peeling!

When I was a kid my grandmother always told me to peel potatoes when they were still warm, but I had to think about her when I saw the following video, where they show an easier way of peeling them!