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

'A fascinating, well-researched, and readable book … this book is a valuable addition to the literature on the economic history and politics of food and has contemporary relevance.' Alan Greer, Economic History Association

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]