The US Celebrated National Potato Day on August 19
The US celebrated National Potato Day on August 19. Paying tribute to one of the world’s staple foods, the celebrations featured promotions and events meant to mark the occasion.
The potato was first domesticated in the region of modern-day southern Peru and northwest Bolivia between 8,000 and 5,000 BC. The vegetable has since spread around the world and become a staple crop in many countries.
It arrived in Europe sometime before the end of the 16th century by two different ports of entry: the first in Spain around 1570, and the second via the British Isles between 1588 and 1593.
According to data from the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, potatoes are the fourth most important food crop in the world and the leading vegetable crop in the U.S. Together, Idaho and Washington produce more than half of the annual supply, which totaled 442m cwt in 2017. About 63% of potato sales are to processors of French fries, chips, dehydrated potatoes and other potato products.
The remainder goes to the fresh market, is fed to farm animals or re-used as seed tubers for growing the next season’s crop.
Indeed, potato products are a thriving industry in the U.S. Case in point, according to a recently published analysis of food orders between January 2018 and July 2019 commissioned by delivery service DoorDash, the most popular potato preparation in the U.S. remains French fries.
French fries made 69% of the top potato dishes ordered nationwide during that period. The second-most wanted potato dish was hash browns.
To celebrate the event, the Idaho Potato Commission in partnership with Idaho Spuds has been hosting on Twitter a giveaway which gives potato enthusiasts the chance to win some Idaho potato products.
How did you celebrate National Potato Day?
