How Potato Traveled to India
The journey of India's favorite root vegetable.
Potato has managed to conquer the hearts of millions of Indians, despite their differences in lifestyles, and geographic or ethnic backgrounds. In nearly every region or culture, there is at least one authentic dish that features this tuber as the key ingredient. From global dishes like McDonald's French fries and creamy mashed potatoes to indigenous cuisines like Bombay’s batata vada and Bengali aloo posto, potatoes are inseparable from the diet of people across diverse cultures.
Looking at a potato, we see a brownish dull tuber which hardly seems appealing. Yet, this ordinary crop has proved its versatility in different culinary contexts. Sometimes, we find it completely mashed; at other times, it gets turned into a curly fry.
These shape-shifting abilities of potatoes make us wonder, what would have happened to the world if this crop was never discovered? After all, there was a time when potatoes were not even known to most people.
Potatoes were unfamiliar to regions outside South America until the 15th century.
The 'discovery' of potato
Historically, potatoes are native to Peru and Bolivia in South America and the earliest evidence of domesticated potatoes in these regions can be traced back to 8000–5000 BCE. When the Spanish ventured and conquered the Americas in the 15th century, potatoes were one of the many things they took back from the ‘New World’ to Europe.
The crop was initially introduced in Spain, however, by the late 16th century, potatoes reached several European countries including Italy, Belgium, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Holland. Initially, the potato was surrounded by various myths, being blamed for causing wars, and diseases such as tuberculosis and rickets, syphilis, and obesity. Potato was denounced as 'animal feed' or food for less advanced rural populations. As a member of the Solanaceae family, it was associated with other plants like mandrake (known for its hallucinogenic and narcotic effects) and nightshade (which contains toxic alkaloids like scopolamine and atropine). Further, due to the lack of any biblical reference to the potato, Scottish clergymen deemed it unfit for human consumption.
The advantages of cultivating potatoes became apparent in the 18th century, as the crop proved resistant to spoilage and was affordable.
According to the American historian, William H. McNeill, the introduction of potatoes significantly contributed to the ‘rise of the West’ by feeding the ever-increasing population and reducing the chances of famines. The great Irish famine of 1845–49, owing to the failure of potato cultivation, is a case in point to show the dependency of the European population on the tuber.
In India, and other parts of Asia, potatoes arrived through the Europeans' contact with different regions. European traders began venturing into Asia in the late 15th century as they sought new trade routes to access valuable commodities like spices, silk, and precious metals.
The Portuguese, led by Vasco da Gama in 1498, were the earliest Europeans to reach the subcontinent.
Europeans and potato cultivation in India
The Portuguese settled in the southwestern parts of India in the 1500s. By the 16th and 17th centuries, they introduced new varieties of fruits and vegetables like pineapples and chilis. Similarly, the cultivation of potatoes began in the 17th century, in these regions of the subcontinent. The Portuguese referred to the potato as ‘batata’, which translates to tuber in Portuguese and Spanish. The people of southwest India continue to use this term as, originally, there was no native word for potato in their languages.
Before the advent of the British, potato cultivation remained confined to the southern parts. Historical evidence suggests the potato had become a widely grown garden crop in the western regions of Surat and Karnataka by the 1660s. The tuber was occasionally found in other parts of India, through trade and migration of goods and people.
Edward Terry, a British gentleman who wrote about the Mughal Empire and South Asian cuisine, mentioned in his accounts the availability of potatoes in Ajmer in 1675 AD when he attended a banquet.
The British introduced potato cultivation in northern parts, especially the hilly areas in the early 19th century. For instance, in Simla (now Shimla) hills, potato cultivation was introduced in 1828.
Despite their initial skepticism, potatoes had become a favored addition to Britain’s food habits by the late 18th century. They were a regular part of the British diet, especially among the working class. They were often prepared in various forms, such as mashed, roasted, and chips (fries), and played a significant role in meals due to their affordability and filling nature. The British also realized that the tuber could grow well in almost every region with less risk of failure. Moreover, cultivating potatoes in the colonies was much cheaper than importing them from Europe. These could have been the considerations that led the British to invest in potato cultivation in India.
However, potatoes remained popular among the Anglo-Indians and other elite groups until the late 19th century.
There is an interesting anecdote about the origin of potato-based biryani, which became the famous Kolkata biryani. In the 19th century, when the Nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah, was exiled to Bengal, he invented a new recipe that would become synonymous with Kolkata Biryani. The nawab requested his cooks to add potatoes to his biryani as they represented a status symbol. Over time, common people started imitating these elite food habits and included potatoes in their diet.
As potato became a regular addition to the food habits of natives, the word potato got Indianized and became popularly known as ‘alu’, the Sanskrit word for an ‘edible root’. Today, India is the second largest producer of potatoes in the world, producing around 48.2 million tons. This makes potatoes one of India's most important export items.
The various dishes prepared out of this round, ordinary tuber aptly give an insight into the diversity in the food habits of different regions and ethnicities in India and other countries.
If you enjoyed this story, let me know which potato dish is your favorite!
Potatoes are my absolute favourite food and I'd happily nominate any kind as my last meal, but if I had to choose, I would vote for the roast pot.
Hard toss between french fries and aloo chat!