Why is Potato Day celebrated?

Potato Day (August 19) celebrates the introduction of the potato to North America.

Although the potato originated in South America, Europeans were the ones who introduced the potato to North America. The first recorded evidence of potatoes growing in North America dates to the 1560s, when they were found near Spanish settlements in Florida. Potatoes were not immediately accepted as a staple food in the New World.

There was fear and stigma as potato flowers bore resemblance to the flowers of the deadly nightshade plant. The stigma began to die down when Sir Walter Raleigh showed off the potato's culinary delights to Queen Elizabeth.

It was not until after the American Revolutionary War that the potato truly started to take off in North America. This is when a French agronomist convinced Thomas Jefferson to plant potatoes at his estate in Monticello, Virginia. Potatoes quickly caught on as a valuable source of food and were especially popular in colder regions where other crops did not thrive.