Potatoes are one of the most universal crops, appearing in cuisines on virtually every corner of the planet.

馬鈴薯是最普遍的農作物之一，幾乎出現在地球每個角落的美食中。

So how did the potato become a staple around the globe?

那麼，馬鈴薯是如何成為全球各地的主食的呢？

The history is way more complicated than you think.

歷史比你想象的要複雜得多。

Unlike other root vegetables, the potato is a starchy tuber.

與其他根莖類蔬菜不同，馬鈴薯是一種澱粉塊莖。

Think of it as a storage unit that reserves the plant's energy underground, allowing the plant to grow back each year and reproduce itself.

可以把它想象成一個儲藏室，將植物的能量儲備在地下，讓植物每年都能重新生長，繁衍後代。

They were first cultivated in the Andes around 8,000 BCE.

大約公元前 8000 年，安第斯山脈開始種植這種植物。

Pre-Hispanic civilizations relied on potatoes as a nutrient-dense food source, and over millennia they found they could be prepared in a multitude of ways.

前西班牙文明依賴馬鈴薯作為營養豐富的食物來源，經過幾千年的發展，他們發現馬鈴薯的烹飪方法多種多樣。

In addition to boiling, mashing, baking, and stewing potatoes, the people of the Andes would make chuño, a naturally freeze-dried potato that would carry communities through years when crops were not as successful.

除了煮馬鈴薯、搗碎馬鈴薯、烤馬鈴薯和燉馬鈴薯外，安第斯人還會製作 "chuño "馬鈴薯，這是一種天然凍乾的馬鈴薯，可以幫助社區度過農作物收成不好的年份。

In addition to being preserved for long periods of time, chuño was lightweight, making it a portable source of sustenance for Incan armies.

除了可以長期保存外，chuño 還很輕便，是印加軍隊的便攜式食物來源。

Potatoes made their debut in Europe in the 16th century after Spanish colonists returned from South America.

16 世紀，西班牙殖民者從南美洲返回歐洲後，馬鈴薯首次出現在歐洲。

But it took a while before Europeans learned just how amazing potatoes really are.

但過了一段時間，歐洲人才知道馬鈴薯到底有多神奇。

When they first arrived, Europeans were skeptical because they closely resembled plants from the poisonous nightshade family.

當它們第一次來到歐洲時，歐洲人對它們持懷疑態度，因為它們非常像有毒的夜來香科植物。

It wasn't until the mid-18th century when the potato's popularity skyrocketed for a variety of reasons.

直到 18 世紀中葉，由於種種原因，馬鈴薯的受歡迎程度才急劇上升。

First of all, potatoes are loaded with nutrients.

首先，馬鈴薯富含營養。

We're talking potassium, iron, magnesium, calcium, protein, and a surprising amount of vitamin C.

我們說的是鉀、鐵、鎂、鈣、蛋白質和數量驚人的維生素 C。

Great for curing scurvy, which is an illness caused by a vitamin C deficiency that killed an estimated 2 million sailors between the 16th and 18th centuries.

壞血病是一種因缺乏維生素 C 而引起的疾病，在 16 世紀至 18 世紀期間，估計有 200 萬水手死於這種疾病。

That's why potatoes were an essential part of a sailor's diet.

是以，馬鈴薯是水手飲食中不可或缺的一部分。

They're also relatively easy to grow.

它們也比較容易種植。

They can grow on a wide range of soils, they flourish in cooler climates as well as in temperate zones, they're pretty low-maintenance, and they pump out prolific harvests.

它們可以在多種土壤上生長，在涼爽氣候和溫帶地區都能生長茂盛，維護成本很低，而且收成頗豐。

Just one tuber can produce four to five plants, and each of those plants has the potential to grow three to four pounds of potatoes.

一個塊莖可以長出四到五個植株，而每個植株都有可能長出三到四磅重的馬鈴薯。

Potatoes were an instant hit in Ireland, where they thrived in the country's rocky terrain and cool weather.

馬鈴薯在愛爾蘭一炮而紅，在愛爾蘭多岩石的地形和涼爽的天氣中生長茂盛。

By the mid-19th century, potato harvests were so abundant, about half of Ireland's population subsisted mostly on potatoes.

到 19 世紀中葉，馬鈴薯豐收，愛爾蘭約有一半人口主要以馬鈴薯為生。

But in 1845, crops were nearly annihilated by a blight, turning them black and rendering them inedible.

但在 1845 年，莊稼幾乎被枯萎病摧毀，變成黑色，無法食用。

It became known as the potato famine, a period of food insecurity not only caused by the blight, but also by the English government whose legislation and agricultural export deals only exacerbated the problem.

這一時期的糧食不安全不僅是枯萎病造成的，英國政府的立法和農產品出口交易也加劇了這一問題。

In other countries, citizens needed a bit more convincing to include potatoes in their diets.

在其他國家，人們需要更多的說服才能在飲食中加入馬鈴薯。

In Prussia, some clever rebranding by King Frederick II made potatoes all the rage.

在普魯士，國王腓特烈二世巧妙地進行了品牌重塑，使洋芋風靡一時。

During the Austrian Wars of Succession from 1740 to 1748, Prussia was grappling with a famine.

1740 年至 1748 年奧地利王位繼承戰爭期間，普魯士遭遇了饑荒。

In order to help his people survive, Old Fritz tried to convince his subjects of the nutritional and economic value of potatoes, but his subjects rejected the new crop.

為了幫助他的人民生存下去，老弗裡茨試圖讓他的臣民相信馬鈴薯的營養和經濟價值，但他的臣民拒絕了這種新作物。

So King Frederick II came up with a more creative marketing ploy.

於是，國王腓特烈二世想出了一個更有創意的營銷策略。

As the story goes, the king stationed guards around his potato fields to give the illusion that the crop was highly valued.

據說，國王在馬鈴薯田周圍派駐了衛兵，以造成馬鈴薯非常珍貴的假象。

At night, he sent the guards home, leaving them unprotected and allowing people to steal the king's potatoes.

到了晚上，他就把衛兵打發回家，讓他們失去保護，任由人們偷吃國王的洋芋。

This story is still up for debate, but regardless, King Frederick II's campaign to popularize the potato worked so well, he is now referred to as Der Kartoffelkönig, or the Potato King.

這個故事至今仍有爭議，但無論如何，國王腓特烈二世推廣馬鈴薯的運動非常成功，他現在被稱為Der Kartoffelkönig（馬鈴薯國王）。

On the other side of the planet, the potato's migration opens up a perspective that challenges

在地球的另一端，馬鈴薯的遷徙開闢了一個挑戰的視角

Western assumptions about history.

西方對歷史的假設。

Radiocarbon dating on pottery suggests that the sweet potato was a staple crop in Polynesia as early as 1000 A.C.E.

陶器上的放射性碳年代測定表明，早在公元前1000年，紅薯就是波利尼西亞的主食作物。

That's almost half a century earlier than when Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

這比哥倫布駛向藍色海洋的時間早了近半個世紀。

Linguistics gives us another clue that the Polynesians likely had contact with South

語言學為我們提供了另一條線索，即波利尼西亞人很可能與南美洲人有過接觸。

America.

美國。

The word for sweet potato in Quechua, the language of the indigenous people in the Andes, is kumara, which is the same word across multiple islands throughout Polynesia.

在安第斯土著居民的語言克丘亞語中，"紅薯 "的意思是 "kumara"，而在整個波利尼西亞的多個島嶼上，"kumara "都是同一個詞。

We'd be very naive to think that Europeans were the only ones with the technology and the knowledge to navigate the world's oceans.

如果我們認為只有歐洲人擁有航行世界海洋的技術和知識，那就太天真了。

The Polynesians were some of the world's most skilled sailors.

波利尼西亞人是世界上最熟練的水手。

They used bird migrations, ocean swells, coral reefs, the stars in the night sky, and clouds to navigate the world's largest ocean.

他們利用鳥類遷徙、海浪、珊瑚礁、夜空中的星星和雲朵為世界上最大的海洋導航。

And using their double-hulled canoes that held up to 80 people for months at a time, they populated islands that stretch over an area of about 118,000 square miles of the

他們使用可容納 80 人的雙殼獨木舟，連續數月在綿延約 118,000 平方英里的島嶼上生活。

Pacific Ocean.

太平洋。

This all could mean that around the same time that Leif Erikson made his way to North America,

這一切可能意味著，萊夫-埃裡克森是在同一時間來到北美的、

Polynesians went to South America, grabbed sweet potatoes, brought them back to their islands across the Pacific, cultivated them, and incorporated them into their culinary traditions.

波利尼西亞人去南美洲採摘紅薯，將其帶回太平洋彼岸的島嶼，進行栽培，並將其融入自己的烹飪傳統中。

It's clear that the potato's pervasive practicality has made it one of the most powerful and popular vegetables on the planet.

顯然，馬鈴薯無處不在的實用性使其成為地球上最強大、最受歡迎的蔬菜之一。

So next time you're eating Indian sag aloo, Korean gamjajeon, Peruvian salchipapas, or

是以，下一次您在吃印度沙格阿魯魚、韓國伽伽倻琴、祕魯沙奇帕斯或

Polish pierogies, take a moment to really appreciate the power of the potato.

在品嚐波蘭餡餅時，請花點時間真正體會一下馬鈴薯的力量。

What's your favorite way to enjoy potatoes?

您最喜歡以什麼方式享用洋芋？

Tell us in the comments!

請在評論中告訴我們！