After some considerable hiatus – blame life, blame whatever distractions you like – there could be no better day on which to return than on this, my sixth blog birthday.
On exactly this day six years ago – and a Sunday it was too – I found a spud in my garden and – who’da thought – a voice to go with it. Since then, I have passed through one potato, two potato, three potato, four, moved through five potato, six potato, and, with any luck, there will, in the future, be seven potato, more.
The potato – a complex carbohydrate for sure.
That was how Pádraic Óg Gallagher introduced proceedings at an event in Gallagher’s Boxty House to mark the launch of last Friday’s National Potato Day. He’s not wrong, either – if six years of writing about the potato has taught me anything, it is that there is a great deal more to the spud than meets the eye.
The launch of National Potato Day, as sponsored by Bord Bia, the Irish Potato Federation and the Irish Farmer’s Association, included a lunch consisting of seven potato dishes – from beef and potato stew to potato and onion pakoras – identified as the most popular recipes on Bord Bia’s promotional spudsite, potato.ie. I – and no bother to me – ate them all.
Beef and potato stew – one of the more traditional recipes from potato.ie’s top 7,
as promoted by Bord Bia as part of this year’s National Potato Day
The lunch was followed by the harvesting of a cross section of varieties from the heritage potato collection of Dave Langford and Dermot Carey, as grown on behalf of Gallagher’s Boxty House by Andrew Douglas of the Dublin Urban Farm project. Having grown around 160 varieties from the collection last year on a city rooftop, that number and more were grown again this year, and toured at various festivals as part of what Andrew called the Thank Potato project. Pádraic Óg Gallagher, meanwhile, hopes to make his harvest of multifarious potato varieties an annual event.
There I am, harvesting potatoes from upcycled water cooler bottles outside
Gallagher’s Boxty House, with Andrew Douglas of the Dublin Urban Farm and Thank Potato projects.
(image courtesy of Andres Poveda Photography)
When it came to my turn to harvest, I chose an unfamiliar-to-me variety called Irish Peace (and you can listen to my harvesting cameo on RTE countrywide on the RTE radio player, from about 35 minutes in; the earlier part of the program, about the difficulties being experienced by vegetable growers here, is worth a listen too).
And so, having promised on national radio to give my Irish Peace potatoes a whirl and write about my findings, I can say that they were what you would call a little wet – definitely of the waxy persuasion, in other words – while the flavour, a little nutty I thought, was not at all bad. I later discovered, via the European Cultivated Potato Database, that the variety was, perhaps unsurprisingly, bred in Northern Ireland and first listed in 1973, in the early years of the Troubles – it is thus nothing if not an optimistically named spud (and, I might suggest, a variety that would be suitable for those convenience packs of baby potatoes that are becoming ever more popular).
Yeah, after six years, spuds still make me happy.
Pictured with some of my freshly harvested Irish Peace potatoes.
(image courtesy of Andres Poveda Photography)
There was much else that went on during National Potato Day, but I shall finish with one of the more interesting, which was an interview that Caitríona Redmond did on the Sodshow on Dublin City FM with John Weakliam of Irish charity Vita. They discussed the charity’s work in addressing food security issues in Ethiopia, and elsewhere, with their Potato Centre of Excellence – it’s a topic about which I’ve written before – while Caitríona also spoke with Eritrean native Smret, who describes how, in her country, potatoes are seen as a treat to give children. All of which goes some way towards demonstrating that spuds are a very complex carbohydrate indeed.
Happy, Happy Blogiversary AND National Potato Day! What a happy harmonic convergence, DS! I love that you are showing your beautiful, smiling face, too! <3
A very happy convergence indeed Jenni! Wonderful to hear from you & hope all is well in the pastry chef online world x
Congrats Aiofe! Who would have thought that spuds would still be going strong 6 years later? Yay you!!
Who’d have thought it indeed Mardi – not sure I would have if you’d asked me 6 years ago! x
Many Happy Returns of the day Aoif. Feeling chipper, I hope.XX
Feeling champion Tom! (and a happy anniversary of another sort to yourself & herself today too) xx
Peace! It is what I feel after eating my fill of spuds. Happy 6th Anniversary! How is your kitchen remodel?
Ah, indeed so Janet and thanks for the good wishes. The kitchen has been operational for a while, though there are still some things to do – the flooring will happen in the next couple of weeks (it’ll be nice to have something other than bare concrete!) and there are a couple of other finishing touches that I’m working on. Will post photos when it’s done!
Clap along if you feel like a spud without a root
I’m Spud happy
Clap along for six years writing all the spudsy truths
I’m Spud happy
Clap along if you know what spudness is to you
I’m Spud happy
Clap along with Aoife and her spud empire she grew
I’m spud happy
Clap along if you feel like a potato and a brew.
Congrats and cheers,
Brian.
You truly have a way with lyrics, Brian. Thanks for the little ditty – am clapping along and will partake of a potato (and maybe even a brew) in due course!
Congrats for the 6 years spuds!