1. Potatoes! By Andrea Naft

2. Eating would be boring if we didn’t have the wonderful foods introduced to the world by the Natives of North and South America : Squash Vanilla Corn TomatoesPeanuts Strawberries

3. And…. Potatoes

4. Where do potatoes come from?

5. It is believed that the potato began many 1000’s of years ago in the highlands of Peru and Chile in South America

6. How do potatoes grow? Underground!

7. These Native Peruvian women are harvesting potatoes from the earth. What can you observe about the setting and the dress of these women?

8. It is believed the ancient natives of South America, the Incas, grew and ate potatoes 13,000 years ago. Potatoes were such an important food to them, that they buried potatoes with their dead, stored them, dried them, and put them in stews. Inca drawing of a farmer harvesting potatoes.

9. The planting and use of the potato spread to other tribes over thousands of years. Finally the potato reached Mexico. After it was introduced to the Spanish explorers, it arrived in North America and Europe where it became a very popular food in many countries.

10. Did you know there are hundreds of varieties of potatoes?

11. Here are just a few samples:

12. The next time you eat a potato, think of its interesting history and importance to the world.