Shortly after Columbus discovered America, explorers in Peru, South America, came across an important food they had never seen before. They were pleasantly surprised to find that its round, oval, or flat-shaped hard tubers-many as big as a man’s hand-made good eating after being boiled, baked or fried.
So they took some home to the British Isles, where they grew so well and had such great food value that they soon became their main food. What was it they had discovered? Potatoes! So many potatoes were soon raised in Ireland that they got the name Irish potatoes, but actually they should have been called Peruvian potatoes, as that’s where they were first found. Even today visitors to Peru are discovering that the Peruvians are developing new varieties of them, as well as other foods, both new and old.
Being a main food now for so many of us, let’s look at its food value. A potato is about 80 percent water and 20 percent solid matter. Starch makes up about 85 percent of the potato’s solid matter and protein makes up about 10 percent. It also contains important vitamins as well as the elements calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and sodium. And good news for people who count calories, a medium-sized potato contains only about 70 calories-not especially fattening.
Potatoes are a close relative of tomatoes, red peppers and eggplants. However, they are not related to sweet potatoes or yams. They are grown in every state of the continental United States, but most are grown on large farms where growing conditions are best-mostly in the North. Russia actually grows more potatoes than any other country. Other leading growers are Mainland China, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, France and Spain.
Areas such as North America, Europe and Japan pride themselves on their inventions and development of computers, military weapons, automobiles, airplanes, etc. But it should humble us to realize that while some of these things are indeed clever and brilliant, actually our neighbors in many parts of Central and South America have had an important part in keeping to the simpler things of life and have for all these years been enjoying tasty and nutritious food, nuts, and fruit, supplied to them by a kind and loving Creator, of whom the Bible says, “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” Psalm 33:55He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. (Psalm 33:5).
When the Lord God provided necessary things for all His creatures, it was throughout the entire world. It was on the third day of creation that He declared, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb [plants] yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth.” Genesis 1:1111And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. (Genesis 1:11).
The more we learn of the great varieties of that wonderful provision in so many parts of the world, the more we should thank Him for His wisdom and loving care over all His creation, and particularly for the way this benefits each one of us.
ML-12/22/1991