The First Wise Traveler to the West - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 21

Figure 2.4. Irish Immigrants to America
The potato gained acceptance in Europe only slowly. It elicited fear and loathing when
first encountered because a widespread theory of disease held that plants caused a disease
associated with their appearance. And unfortunately for the potato, its eyes and skin sug-
gested the skin lesions of leprosy. But by the 1600s, potatoes were common in northern
Europe. Now, with a new and ready source of food, Europe's population began a steady
climb. Population grew not only because of the potato's nutritional value but because it
spared Europe's peasants the starvation that followed foraging armies and rapacious tax
collectors, who seized grains stored in barns and sheds. The potato could remain hidden
underground, safe from prying eyes and grasping hands.
But as Ralph Waldo Emerson says, every credit has its debit side. By 1800, rural Ire-
land was totally dependent on the potato. Most households ate nothing but potatoes, as
much as fourteen pounds of potatoes per person per day. [24] Sustained by the potato, Ire-
land's population grew in Malthusian fashion (500 percent) from 1715 to 1815. The pop-