The Vegetable Shaping Nations

There are a few vegetables that seem to have shaped nations and set an economy tumbling. It is potato! The potato also played a role in diplomatic spats. In fried form, the potato took the center stage in the row at diplomatic level between Washington and Paris in 2003 when France refused to back the US led invasion on Iraq. The US lawmakers were very angry with the unruly French! So they changed the name of French fried potatoes to "freedom fries." This action might be small but it is a symbolic effort to show the hatred between the two nations.

The population of Ireland was reduced to half when the potato crop failed in the mid 1800s, a four year famine followed. The Irish economy crumbled and the population of 8 million came down to 4 million! Many died of hunger and many people went away from Ireland! Ireland crossed 4 million mark when there was an economic boom in 1990s.

Dr. Fernando Ezeta of International Potato Center in Asia hailed the tuber for "bringing together people and nations" after North Korea hosted officials from 22 nations that included South Korea. It also shaped European politics.

Polish president Lech Kaczynski cancelled a summit meeting in anger when a German newspaper satirized the summit with the title "Poland's new potatoes." The article was published in the German newspaper, Die Tageszeitung. The summit was scheduled to be held between German and French diplomats but failed due to a provoking newspaper headline. Though Kaczyanski gave the reason of being sick when asked the reason for the cancellation of the diplomatic meet but the real reason was his distaste for being compared with a potato.

The term "couch potato" seemed disgraceful to British farmers. They were very angry. They wanted the term to be removed from the dictionary. They marched to the houses of Parliament in London protesting it. They argued the slang word for a television, "tube." It gave rise to "tubers." The tubers are those who watch television over hours sitting in a sofa. It gives the impression that potatoes are bad for health. Therefore it is bad for business.