Celebrating Peruvian Potatoes

January 19th, 2007

Photo: Carlos Ochoa/CIP

Madrid Fusión, one of the World’s top gastronomic events, features in its 2007 edition a tribute to some of the most representative products of planet Earth.

The Gastronomic Fair has chosen some of those products “that it considers most emblematic: white truffles, from Italy;champagne, from France; Stilton cheese, from England; Wagyu ox or Kobe ox, from Japan; Bourbon whisky, from the United States; Andean potatoes (“papas”), from Peru; Port wine, from Portugal; and Iberian ham, from Spain“.

Potatoes are the fourth most important food crop in the world, and originated in the Peruvian Andes. It is a fundamental crop to the people of Peru’s mountains, where hundreds of different varieties are grown, with a remarkable diversity of colors and shapes. Some of the most well-known varieties of potato in Peru include canchán, blanca, tomasa, amarilla, colorada, huayro, criolla, tarmeña, huamantanga, negra, and peruanita.

In the meanwhile, The United Nations (UN) has declared 2008 as the International Year of the Potato. 

The event that is expected to present many opportunities to raise the profile of potato among civil society as an important world food staple, and to raise the profile of the potato as a contributor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Lima-based International Potato Centre, which maintains the world’s largest bank of potato germplasm (including samples of about 100 wild species and 3.800 traditional Andean cultivated potatoes), will be taking the lead in coordinating and implementing the activities for the International Year of the Potato.

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