7 Indigenous Taino Words You Probably Already Know – Part 2: Potatoes

This blog is part of a series of 8 post describing 7 Taino words we use today (in English). This is part is about the word 'potato'.

Potato

Meat and potatoes is home cookin' American dinner faire, right? Wrong! The word "potato" comes directly from the Taino language. When the Spaniards arrived in the New World they had never seen or eaten a potato. The Taino were accomplished farmers and they shared their sweet potato, which they called "batata," with the Spaniards.

Columbus himself presented the "batata" to Queen Isabella after his first voyage. In subsequent voyages, Columbus and his men discovered the white potato in Peru called "papa" by the indigenous people. Somehow the "p" from "papa" got added to the "batata" and the Spanish word for potato became "patata" with the anglicized version becoming "potato." Well, the rest is history as they say because we all know how prevalent the potato is today.

For a long time, the white potato took a back seat to the sweet potato in Europe. In fact, the white potato was called the "bastard potato" for a long time. Anyway, the next time you order mashed potatoes or pop a big potato into the microwave for a quick meal, remember the Taino. Instead of calling your fries "freedom fries" maybe you can instead call them "Taino fries" out of respect for those who lost their freedom.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6969009

Now-a-days the potato is the staple food for people living in temperate climates.

Some facts:

• The potato is the most universally grown crop in the world.


• Despite health concerns, potato chips are one of the most common snack foods in the world with billions of packets being consumed every year.


• One of the main causes of the Great Famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1852 was a potato disease known as potato blight. The shortage of potatoes led to the death of around 1 million people who were dependent on them as a food source.


• Potatoes were the first food to be grown in space. In 1996, potato plants were taken into space with the space shuttle Columbia.

So, every time you eat a potato, you honor the Taino people who were forbidden to speak their own language as a tool to conquer them.