Feeding the People
The Politics of the Potato

Almost no one knew what a potato was in 1500. Today they are the world's fourth most important food. How did this happen?

Rebecca Earle (Author)

9781108484060, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 June 2020

308 pages, 33 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.58 kg

'Feeding the People is a joy to read. It is clearly written in engaging prose, but more importantly, it significantly challenges long-held historiographies about the potato in European history. … I recommend this book for a variety of audiences, both scholarly and general. For casual readers, Earle provides a short and interesting history of the potato's romp through the modern world. Scholars will be intrigued by her upending of established theories about potatoes and her focus on bottom-up social history as well as high-level philosophical and political debates. It is impossible for any reader to come away from the book without having gained a new appreciation of how the lowly potato transformed the world.' Tammy M. Proctor, Food & History

Potatoes are the world's fourth most important food crop, yet they were unknown to most of humanity before 1500. Feeding the People traces the global journey of this popular foodstuff from the Andes to everywhere. The potato's global history reveals the ways in which our ideas about eating are entangled with the emergence of capitalism and its celebration of the free market. It also reminds us that ordinary people make history in ways that continue to shape our lives. Feeding the People tells the story of how eating became part of statecraft, and provides a new account of the global spread of one of the world's most successful foods.

List of figures
List of recipes
List of abbreviations
Introduction. Pouring ourselves a large gin
1. Immigrant potatoes
2. Enlightened potatoes
3. Free-market potatoes
4. Global potatoes
5. Capitalist potatoes
6. Security potatoes
Conclusions. Parmentier, peasants and personal responsibility
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Food & society [JFCV], General & world history [HBG]