In 1996, the United States reached peak potato production. Americans were eating 64 pounds of vegetables each year, more than at any time since modern records began in 1970. A record crop has flooded the country with so many potatoes that the government has been forced to pay farmers to donate them. At the White House, the Clintons would serve french fries, seasoned, boiled, and chopped with garlic to princesses and presidents at state dinners.
“It was a crazy time,” says Chris Voigt, whose long career in potato merchants began during the potato craze of the late 1990s. “Literally you can buy buckets of french fries.” But as Voigt worked his way up in the potato industry, reaching the position of executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, American potatoes were undergoing a major turnaround in their fortunes.
The average American now eats 30 percent fewer potatoes than they did during the vegetable’s heyday, reaching an all-time low of 45 pounds per year. The decline in fresh potato consumption – for boiling, roasting, mashing and steaming – was more rapid. In 2019, consumption of frozen potatoes exceeded consumption of fresh potatoes for the first time, opening a gap that has continued to widen since the outbreak of the pandemic. Most of those frozen potatoes are eaten as French fries.
This has turned potato fields into battlegrounds for America’s food future. In December 2023, reports emerged that the US Dietary Guidelines It will likely change To declassify potatoes as a vegetable, reflecting the approach taken in Britain. There was such an uproar that US Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack had to write a letter Reassure senators That his agency had no such plans.
That reclassification may have failed, but potatoes have suffered a stunning fall from grace. Once upon a time, this nutrient-rich miracle vegetable was the fuel of human civilization. Now potatoes in the United States have become synonymous with a garbage industrial food system that funnels profits to a handful of corporations at the expense of people’s health.
America’s favorite vegetable is having a Sophie’s Choice moment. Should we accept that fresh potatoes have lost their battle against the tide of French fries, French fries and pies, or is there hope for a potato renaissance? Can the humble potato get the rehabilitation it deserves?
White potatoes It is a criminally underrated food. Compared to other carbohydrate-laden staples like pasta, white bread or rice, potatoes are rich in vitamin C, potassium and fibre. They are also surprisingly high in protein. If you meet your daily calorie goal by eating only potatoes, you’ll also exceed your daily protein goal, which is 56 grams for a man aged 31 to 50.
Chris Voigt knows this because he ate nothing but potatoes for 60 days in 2010. And a little oil. And once some pickle juice. But the point is that Voigt not only lived on potatoes for two months; I flourished. By the end of his diet, Voigt had lost 21 pounds, his cholesterol level had dropped by 41 percent, and he had stopped snoring. “I think I’ve personally proven that potatoes are highly nutritious, no matter how you eat them — whether you boil them, fry them, cook them in the oven, or steam them,” Voigt says.