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How Potatoes Evolved
- ggm 1y agoNot wanting to be completely petty, isn't this true of all viable hybrids? Some acquisition of genes from both sides is demanded to make a distinction worthy of speciation. Not that I don't love spuds.
- accidentallfact 1y agoI don't think there is any specific feature that makes potatoes unique. Two chromozome copies are typical for animals, but the number of copies in plants varies widely, and and often changes easily, even different variants of the same crop can have different numbers of copies. Underground storage organs are nothing unique, and those of potatoes are not even particularly large. Many places prohibit fig trees for example, because what you see is basically just the tip, and there can be a giant 100m in diameter underground that ruins every underground structure in its path. But it's full of nasty toxic sap, and harvesting it would be a nightmare. It's just the particular combination of fast growth, edibility, and ease of cloning and harvest that makes potatoes unique.
- ggm 1y agoWell according to the article.. tomatoes supplied a gene which turns off and on tuber expression and the other side supplied a gene for underground stems (not roots) and to be a potato demands both.
- teslabox 1y agoNightshades are problematic for stressed and old people because the plants have mild poisons. Old people and addicts tend to not be able to handle the poisons in tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and chilis. But for people that are nightshade-tolerant potatoes are an excellent food crop. IIRC, someone was annoyed that do-gooders wanted to remove potatoes from the food stamp programs, because the potato is actually an almost-complete food. This has morphed into The Potato Diet, which calls for eating potatoes and only potatoes for a short period of time. From the start of October through November in 2010, Voigt consumed only spuds, a few basic seasonings and small amounts of oil for cooking. His endeavor drew attention from NBC’s Today Show, CBS News, Fox, NPR and the UK’s Daily Telegraph. Voigt documented his journey through a blog ( 20potatoesaday.com ). Tired of potatoes getting a bad rap as being nothing but fattening starch and carbs, he wanted to make a statement that proved potatoes were very nutritious. - https://spudman.com/article/all-potato-diet-eight-years-later-voigt/ https://spudman.com/article/all-potato-diet-eight-years-late...
- mongol 1y agoThe theory behind it is that potatoes are the most filling food of all, so it is hard to over-eat. I tried this diet, and it works for weight loss, but it soon made me feel very unsatisfied. But with a little bit of variation, i.e. making potatoes the base and adding limited extra ingredients, you can sustain on it longer.
- CoastalCoder 1y agoI thought one of the issues with potatoes is that they have a really high glycemic index, not lack of nutrients. So consistently eating a lot of them increases one's risk of Type 2 diabetes.
- BSOhealth 1y agoThis is true. Most of the potatoes eaten are valuable in caloric-deprived situations, but they are not a long-term healthy food due to the thrashing they do to insulin management.
- SoftTalker 1y agoThe Danes (maybe all Scandinavians?) eat potatoes with almost every meal. Do they have a higher incidence of diabetes?
- alecco 1y agoThat is misleading. Potatoes are ranked as one of the most satiating foods per calorie. The problem is people put a lot of butter/oil on them. Or eat them too processed.
- switknee 1y agoPotatoes are not particularly high on the satiety index (~33%). Brocolli and spinach are much higher at near 100% https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/marty.kendall7139/viz/nutrientdensityperservingvsnutrientdensitypercalorie/popular?publish=yes https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/marty.kendall7139/viz... I've been reading that what gives potatoes a satiety boost is that they contain proteinase inhibitors. These limit your appetite by disrupting your digestion. Maybe they are more effective as a weight loss food than the raw nutrition numbers would suggest, but for an athlete that wants to cut I don't think slowing your ability to digest amino acids is a good idea.
- searine 1y agoThe actual paper in question: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00736-6 https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00736-6 Funded by Chinese and US government agencies and agricultural research programs.
- pm90 1y ago> There are around 140 species of wild potato in South America, growing from Mexico in the north all the way down to Argentina and Chile in the south. Super nit, but do authors think Mexico is in South America?
- cariaso 1y agoI can easily forgive the statement you highlighted, but there is zero information about potatoes in this one: Along with wheat, maize and rice, they are estimated to account for up to 80% of all calories eaten by people worldwide.
- foobar1962 1y agoI picked that up too. Awkward. I think they mean that 80% of all calories are provided by wheat, maize, rice, and potatoes.
- darth_aardvark 1y agoYeah, but that statement is basically information-free re: potatoes. "Boiled squid liver is a popular food. Along with wheat, maize, rice, and potatoes, they make up 80% of all calories eaten by people worldwide." is technically true, but doesn't tell you anything about boiled squid liver consumption.
- allturtles 1y agoFWIW, the data I found puts potatoes at 1.7% of world calorie consumption [0], but also puts the sum of maize+wheat+rice+potatoes at closer to 50% than 80%. [0]: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/most-important-staple-foods-in-the-world.html https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/most-important-staple-fo...
- throw310822 1y agoI interpreted it as "they're part of the class of foods that, depending on the culture, can make up to 80% of the calories of each meal'.
- msuniverse2026 1y agoI dislike potatoes because they are not trve roots but are instead tubers. Beetroot and radishes are where the real stuff is happening. The potato is a vegetable of stupefaction, radishes make you hyper-intelligent.
- metalman 1y agoyour comment shows that you are a real foodie, but unfortunately missunderstood , or rather it was the downvoting that made re read your comment and go "hey ya!, good one"
- amanaplanacanal 1y agoI read it, and I must be eating too many potatoes because I have no idea what they are on about.
- metalman 1y agosomewhere, sometime, someone, will perhaps, pull a radish out of there garden, wipe the dirt off and hand it to you, likely demonstrating the next step of eating it....which unlike your first potatoe, you will remember
- nosioptar 1y agoIt's all true. How else would Idahoans be so consistently dimwitted?
- freedomben 1y agoAs an idahoan, I would take offense, except I'm too dumb to realize I've been insulted.
- stevekemp 1y agoOff-topic but I have to say that potatoes are incredibly easy to grow, and doing so is very worthwhile. I have a small planter on my balcony at the moment which is thriving with leaves, and in a few weeks I'll dig out the harvest to see what I got. People grow them in very poor soil, and even in literal bags of compost, or buckets. They're easy-going and almost trouble-free. Growing chillis, tomatoes, or herbs on window-sills is kinda fun and rewarding, but growing a "proper crop" feels even more rewarding. And surprising because you have to wait until you dig things up to see how well you did!
- Llamamoe 1y agoI tried planting ones I've left in storage for too long once, even buried them a bit underground. The next day the only thing left was snail trails ):
- SideburnsOfDoom 1y agoWhere I am it's often not warm and dry enough through summer for chillies and tomatoes. If there are a few cooler, wetter weeks then they do poorly. Potatoes are a bit better in that respect. But in poor weather conditions, blight can easily set in on the potatoes and tomatoes. Which makes it a lot less worthwhile.
- LarMachinarum 1y agoAll with you on the general idea that growing potatoes is easy and great. That being said, just a detail: > People grow them in very poor soil, and even in literal bags of compost a bag of compost is pretty much the exact opposite of "very poor soil"; it's about the richest soil there is.
- stevekemp 1y agoIndeed, the point there as you don't need a planter. Literally just a plastic bag of soil bought from a hardware/gardening store. Of course the "new soil" would be full of nutrients, etc, it was more that this is possible even if you don't have a garden, or other hardware. (Similar intent behind mentioning the use of buckets!)
- yzydserd 1y agoThis week’s episode of the BBC podcast The Infinite Monkey Cage was 42 minutes of Science Comedy dedicated to the spud, featuring the same expert as the OP. Most interesting fact I learned was the effort going toward making potato seeds (not seed potatoes). https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002fxn7 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002fxn7
- begueradj 1y agoThere are more than 4000 varieties of potatoes available in shops around the world.
- WrongOnInternet 1y agoYou say tomato, I say potato.
- alanvillalobos 1y ago> There are around 140 species of wild potato in South America, growing from Mexico in the north all the way down to Argentina and Chile in the south. This one always bothers me. Mexico is in North America.
- pstuart 1y agoRight below the Gulf of America! /s
- rishi_devan 1y agoPerhaps the word "Latin America" would have been more apt?
- tshaddox 1y agoI suppose that coincidentally works in this case where they’re inexplicably omitting the wild potato species in the United States. I personally would have just gone with “the Americas.”