Potatoes

What's not to love about the humble spud? The staple crop is as easy to grow as it is versatile, writes SIMON RICKARD.

- SIMON RICKARD.

Europeans have a friendly rivalry about how much more they love the potato than their neighbours. Whether it's British chips, French pommes frites, Low Countries' frieten, or Spanish patatas bravas, every nationality thinks their recipe for fried potatoes is the best. It seems everyone wants to claim the iconic spud as their own, and define their cuisine by it.

The domesticated potato originated on the border of Peru and Bolivia, some five to ten thousand years ago. Potato plants are tetraploid, meaning they carry four sets of chromosomes (as opposed to our two).