Potatoes From Peru

Gastronomic tourism means traveling to discover and eat interesting and delicious food. Whenever I travel, I eat local fruit and vegetables whenever possible. I also try to learn about my food from local people, not just eat it.

Potatoes can be eaten in many ways. Can you name the ones below? What other ways do you know? Is eating potatoes a healthy choice? Why?

A few different ways to eat potatoes (Public Domain image)

The first conquistadores, the Spanish people who came to steal Peru's gold, didn't understand that hiding in the dirt was something even more valuable: the potatoes which now feed hundreds of millions of people around the world. In Peru, there are hundreds of different kinds of potatoes:

Purple potatoes and rosmarin, CC--BY-NC-SA Stijn Nieuwendijk.jpg

Papas [the Spanish word for potatoes], CC--BY krebsmaus07.jpg

To find out more, you can visit the International Potato Center (in Peru). The map below shows where most potato varieties came from:

Notice the orange line along the Pacific coast of South America. These are potatoes that grow in the Andes.

Although potatoes originally came from Peru and nearby areas, China now grows the greatest number of potatoes in the world. Here are some Chinese visitors traveling to Peru to find out more:

多样性的守护者：在秘鲁马铃薯公园就气候变化进行的国际交流 from IIED on Vimeo.

An unusual place to visit during a vacation in Peru is Potato Park:




VISIT TO POTATO PARK PERU with Enjoy Peru Holidays from Potato Park Peru on Vimeo.