National Potato Day
As sceptical as you might be about National Potato Day I think it is a good thing. Why not encourage the growers of our national foodstuff to continue producing this essential source of carbohydrates?
Threatened by blight and the usual potato problems, there are also the cheaper imports to contend with, and I don't mean those lovely new Cyprus potatoes, there are far fewer fields turned over to growing spuds as there were when I was young.
But the potato is still king, from chips to crisps this member of the nightshade family still plays an important part in Irish cuisine - especially when dressed with salt and vinegar.
The failure of the almost monocrop lumper potato in the mid-nineteenth century led to great population change when more than one million people died and one million more emigrated, reducing the population of Ireland by 25% within a ten-year period.
As seen here a Wicklow potato producer proudly displays his wares, called potatoes, spuds or prutas but still one of our favourite foodstuffs - don't forget it's often served multiiple ways on your plate - mashed, boiled, fried and chipped amongst others.
However you like your spuds, just add some butter, salt, and take a knife and fork and tuck in. There's no way that you don't like them.
