FACT SNACK

December 3

You Want Fries With That?
What were some of the great potato events in history? While ambassador to France, Benjamin Franklin attended a banquet where the menu was potatoes, potatoes, and potatoes... prepared in 20 different ways.

On the Menu at Valley Forge. According to legend, General Washington's cook fed the troops fed during the cold winter at Valley Forge with a hearty soup ~ Philadelphia Pepper Pot. The ingredients: tripe fatback, pepper and potatoes.

I Saw Three Chips Come Sailing In... It takes 40,000 pounds of potatoes to make 14,00 pounds of chips.

The Potato Eaters, 1885; Oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, painted by Vincent van Gogh.

Potatoes in Space. In October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be in space, at least via an Earthling. NASA and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, created the method with the goal of feeding astronauts on long space voyages, and eventually, feeding future space colonies.

Yukon Gold Potatoes? In the late 1890s, during the Alaskan Klondike gold rush, potatoes were practically worth their weight in gold. Potatoes were so valued for their vitamin C that miners traded gold for potatoes.

Belgian Fried. The Belgians claim to have invented "French" fries, though no one can prove it. An early version was prepared in the 1700s and was called fried potatoes. Thomas Jefferson tasted them in Paris and brought the recipe home. He served them up at a White House dinner in 1802, calling them "potatoes served in the French manner."

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