Omg, I can't belive I'm actually posting this! This is my first college essay and I actually got a B on it! Anyway, it's about potatoes... my Compostion I professor is a little weird... so, if you must tell me what you think go ahead, but I really am not looking for reviews, I just wanted to post it just for the heck of it...

And to Radyn, if you ever read this again- did you not read what I said up there? This was for my Compostion I class, not an essay that got me into the school. That would be kind of sad, I know.

PLEASE NOTE: Some of you seem to think that this is an essay I wrote for a college application. IT IS NOT. This is an essay I wrote for a college CLASS.

The Lowly Potato

When I sat down for dinner on Monday June 19th, I never expected that I would have to research and then figure out where one piece of food I ate came from. One of the foods I ate at Landrum that night was mashed potatoes. It was a pretty easy and good choice because potatoes are one of the most widely grown and eaten plants in the world. I have never met anyone who does not like eating potatoes in some form or another. Potatoes can be prepared for consumption in various ways: baked, mashed, fried (French fries) etc. Just last year, the United States produced nineteen million metric tons which earned the country the fifth spot on the list of the biggest producers. We were tied with the Ukraine and just behind India and Russia. The largest producer was China with seventy-three million metric tons” (“Potato”). That is a lot of potatoes!

The potato is one of the more popular in the vegetable category in today’s society. But not too many people know that much about the potato itself, its history, how to actually grow it or the complex food system of which it is a part of. According to the numerous authors on the online Encyclopedia, “the first potato was brought back to Spain in the early sixteenth century by the Spanish explorers after they conquered what is today known as Peru. And from there it spread to the rest of Europe, North America and Africa. The word, “potato” unsurprisingly, comes from the Spanish word batata, meaning “sweet potato””(“Potato”). But, the sweet potato had already been discovered much earlier; even before the time of Christopher Columbus and the discovery of the New World. So the sweet potato was already rather old before this new kind of potato was discovered. What some people do not know is the sweet potato and the regular potato have hardly any kind of relationship with one another. The only similarity between the two plants is that their roots are the only part that is consumed by humans.

Today, there are over 200 potato species worldwide; they grow almost anywhere where the climate is cool and there is a reasonable amount of rain. “A good place is in Western Europe or the highlands of China (they were the biggest producer last year)” (“Potato”). But this does not exclude the United States; potatoes are grown in fifteen of the fifty states: Washington, Wisconsin and Illinois are not only listed in the USDA’s potato summary for 2004 but are also, for now, the leading producers in the country.

There are so many different places around the world in which potatoes are able to grow that it is nearly impossible to track the certain potatoes used for the meal that I ate on Monday. I can safely say that it is most likely they came from somewhere in the United States. For if they did it would take less effort by man and wouldn’t use as many resources (fuel, time, money etc.) as it would have taken to ship them from China or Europe.

As mentioned above, potatoes are grown in many US states but there are certain times of the year that they must be planted in each region. “For example, if they were to be grown in Illinois then they would have to be planted in one of the summer months” (USDA). But, in other states they must be planted in the winter or spring months. One of the warmer months would be best because the potato plant will not start growing until the ground in which it is planted reaches 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the ground reaches this temperature the “eye” of an already grown potato is planted in order to grow another one. It, on average, takes a potato plant 100 to 120 days to reach full maturity. It is not recommended that potatoes be harvested until they have fully matured. Potatoes already have a rather fragile outer skin. If they are harvested before they are ready the already thin skin might be bruised or removed completely reducing their economic value. “A just harvested potato is healthier to eat then a potato that has been stored for a few days or weeks. Potatoes contain carbohydrates, minerals (particularly potassium) and vitamins (a lot of Vitamin C). After they are stored for a certain period of time, they lose some of those nutrients. (“Potato”) It takes very little time these days to harvest a potato. There are many methods for doing so without damaging the potato in any way. As mentioned above, the potato, if damaged would lose some of its economic value. “Farmers can choose to take them up one at a time using a three-prong grape (or “graip”) or a spreading fork. But, usually the farmers who grow them by the acre choose to use a potato harvester. This method scoops the whole plant up as well as the dirt surrounding it” (“Potato”). The potato harvester makes the task much quicker since farmers are able to pick up the potatoes at a much faster rate.

After the harvest, the potatoes are sorted; the good from the bad. Here is where it is decided which ones can go through and which ones cannot. The potatoes might not be picked for numerous reasons: bruising, part of the skin is missing, etc. The inspectors have to be very careful for they cannot let a bad potato slip through. Consumers do not want potatoes with imperfections. After this process is over the potatoes that made it through are shipped all over the world. According to about 30 of the potatoes grown in Idaho alone help feed the country. With that figure alone, I am more inclined to believe that the potatoes I ate on Monday came from Idaho because it’s cheaper to send them over state lines instead of sending them over the sea.

In conclusion, a lot of work went into getting that meager serving of mashed potatoes to me. The United States economic system, especially the food segment of it, is very complex more so than I expected it to be. The growing, harvesting and shipping that goes into making one small meal is very time consuming and tedious. There are more people involved than the people who cook and/or serve it. The potato and the part it plays in the economic system of our country are very important. The process that potatoes go through is similar to what all the other freshly grown food goes through every year. All Americans depend on the Food distribution system for our survival