I appreciate the potato only as a protection against famine, except for that, I know of nothing more eminently tasteless.
From The Physiology of Taste (1825) by Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Ouch!
Perhaps the author’s experience was based on potatoes such as Lumpers, a variety grown in Ireland in the early 1800s. A piece in this weeks Daily Telegraph quotes Alan Romans, author of The Potato Book, who describes Lumpers as “A nasty, wet potato but with a huge yield … No one would eat it today. It gives a real insight into how desperate and determined the Irish were to survive.” And so we were, clearly!
Searching for potatoes (Lumpers, no doubt) during famine times in Ireland - Illustrated London News, circa 1849
[image from Vassar College Views of the Famine]
Whaddya Sayin’?