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Enjoy a quick walkabout of Spuds Unearthed!  an exhibition at the US Botanic Garden, in Washington, DC. The Potato Museum collaborated with USBG on the project. It runs until October 17, 2010.

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Sunset, Potato Field.  Frances Wells ( 2010)

 Take a Good Look at the Potato

Seeing the beauty of a potato field in bloom for the first time surprises many people. Its flowers--clean white, blush pink, soft violet, even a deep blue. And its simple parallel lines, green alternating with color. Agricultural landscapes hold their own with any other.

The potato itself is unique among plants for its quiet influence on the world's history and culture. From its origins in the Andes mountains, the potato has traveled farther than any vegetable, around the globe and to the outskirts of the Moon. It has inserted deep roots in places where people think it has always been. That’s why many call it the “Irish potato,” or the Idaho spud.
 
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Create Your Own

An American original, the potato is contradictory; What grows above ground is poisonous, what grows below is nourishing. And--though it develops underground, the potato is not a root.


Explore with us here the contrasts, the pros and cons that have swirled around the potato from the beginning, with its  poisonous green fruit tempting up top, its powerful fuel hidden away in tubers below.
 


+++ "The potato is the world's greatest plant." W.F. Wright Anybody see the end of The Simpson's episode where Homer and Marge fly off in a hot air balloon singing "You Like PoTAYtoes and I Like PoTAHtoes"….? "Spuds Unearthed!" opens May 8 at the US Botanic Garden, Washington, DC. The potato genome explained! At the US Botanic Garden, part of "Spuds Unearthed!" Make a potato Glog right on this site. Just click on Explore, OnLine, and get going. Potato starch made possible the first color photography, called autochromes. Dance with the spudheads at The Potato Museum Blog. "Spuds Unearthed!" opens at the US Botanic Garden in Washington, DC on May 8, 2010. Before the Irish had the nourishing potato, they ate shamrocks and oats. "Spuds Unearthed!" opens May 8 at the US Botanic Garden in Washington, DC. Over 100 place names in the USA contain the word "potato." Find them using Google Earth. "Spuds Unearthed!" opens May 8 at the US Botanic Garden, Washington, DC. The origin of the word "pothole" refers to the shallow space in the dirt floor of an Irish cottage where a pot of potatoes was placed for mashing. ++++ "Spuds Unearthed!" opens May 8 at the US Botanic Garden, Washington, DC.
 

Welcome to
The Potato Museum

Here you will find features, exhibits from our collections as well as interactive modules, teacher and student resources, blogs, and a shop. The Potato Museum, started (1975) in Brussels, Belgium, is the world's first museum about the potato and features the planet's largest collection about this valuable vegetable. The Potato Museum is not a product of the potato industry. We are a non-profit educational organization dedicated to exploring the potato's fascinating past, controversial present and promising future.

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Speaking of Spuds

"The value of the potato in calamity and wartime has been proved repeatedly. Anonymous

Why The Potato?

whypotato-image200pxIn the space of just 400 years, the potato has become a staple crop of many people around the world whose antecedents had subsisted perfectly well upon grain crops for anything up to 4000 years. The reason for this somewhat surprising development is that the potato is the best all-around bundle of nutrition known to mankind.  John Reader, Man on Earth, 1998. Why The Potato Part 2

 

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