Chequered history of humble potato

The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they feed themselves,” Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1775-1826) author of The Physiology of Taste.

This Tuesday, two potato farmers allegedly committed suicide in Burdwan and Hooghly district of Kolkata after failing to sell the bulk of their produce. How many can think of a food item, as cheap and easily available as the potato, can be at the centre stage of human tragedies?

Be it the Irish potato famine of 1840s or the twin farmer suicide in Kolkata, experts and food historians over the years have pointed out the role of food in a society or in other words, the socio-political scenarios surrounding particular foods. Potato is perhaps one crop which has featured in most of these discourses.

Just like Jean Anthelme, Sumit Das, a cultural activist who belongs to Burdwan, where one of the farmers allegedly took his life, believes food to be quite an important perimeter to judge a given society. Das was in the Capital very recently amidst the raging debate of the Land Acquisition Bill. He thinks most of the preparations of potato are not sophisticated when compared to other food items hence people consuming it are not bothered about the conditions under which the vegetable is cultivated.

“Why would people think about the politics of food,” Das remarked. “At the end of the day, everyone wants to eat and get done with it. Yes of course there are those who pay thousands of rupees for a potato based food item prepared by a high profile chef, but such people, according to me , are definitely not as concerned about the crop as the farmer who produces it,” he added.

However, towards the end of the interview he said, “Of course, the politics of
food comes to play in certain foods like the rising prices of mutton or the recent beef ban. It is in these moments people become more touchy about the food they eat or others eat,” said Das who was obviously taking a dig at the recent ban of beef products
in Maharasthra.

While talking to Metrolife Das spoke at length on the pains of producing a kilo of potato. “Potato contains about 80 per cent water and it is a semi-perishable commodity. It cannot be stored without refrigeration for more than 3-4 month. This is where the middle men come into picture because farmers cannot afford to own cold storage units. The result is that farmers in some parts of India suffer immense losses while in other parts they barely make it to the profit margin,” Das said adding “The farmer sells one kilo at 2 rupees that too when he has got the right connections. Is that justice?”

Das is not the only one who takes potatoes quite seriously. Basharat Hasan, a city based research scholar, has done his thesis on science policies and has closely followed environmental and food movements across the globe and particularly in India.

“Potatoes were indigenous to the Andes region which includes modern day countries like Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. The cultural exchanges between various territories over the years have led potato to become an integral part of much of the world’s food supply. In fact it is the world’s fourth-largest food crop with nearly a third of the world’s potatoes being  harvested in China and India,” Hasan said, giving a brief on the ‘movement of potatoes’.

“There are records of potato being consumed as early as 8,000 BC and it has been travelling with humans during their march of civilisation and yet the growing commoditisation and consumerism has changed the potato from being a peasant’s food. It served as a cushion for the poor for ages and the rising rates are affecting both the consumers and the growers,” Hasan said.

“The fast food industry which serves a variety of French fries is just more bad news for an agricultural based society that India is,” Hasan concluded.

Noted academic, food critic and historian Pushpesh Pant expressed similar views while talking to Metrolife and even suggested how the food item is becoming more of a luxury. “It is no longer food of the poor. Look at the rates at which potatoes are sold,” Pant said.

Yet one can find those who disagree with most of the points put forward by critiques of the fast food industry or that of the neglect of potato farmers. Sunil, an aloo chat seller, not only serves as a perfect example but has quite an outlook when it comes to his business.

“I am also in the trade of fast food so I won’t criticise the industry,” he said on a lighter note. “But I am glad that potatoes are still cheap. There is no time to be guilty about what happens to those who cultivate them. We ourselves are struggling to keep up the pace with the rising prices,” he said and added, “Not of potatoes but of everything else.”