European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 30, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Celebrating potatoes by John Harbour associated press he smithsonian institution preserves More than 100 million items in its past collection from Dinosaur Bones to Dolley Madison s slippers but not a single Olalo. However that glaring omission is taken care o a dozen blocks away. Just visit the Home of Tom and Meredith Hughes a Young couple Wilh a Low headed 3-year-old named Gulliver. The Little card on the front door of their Brownstone announces that this is the potato inside from living room to dining room to Kitchen the ubiquitous tuber is King there Are thousands of museums throughout America most of them in Small towns thai Honor some interest or enthusiasm some kind of nostalgia. But lha potato Here in the Hughes household is the original or. Polato head the first toy they a advertised on television a clock that runs on electrical Power generated by two potatoes a couple of potato sack sports jackets All kinds o potato picking gear a patented device for printing Idaho on potatoes Potter from Peru designed after potatoes including one that whistles through a Little Ceramic Bird when you blow on it items dating from 1,000 years before Christ Tom Hughes a lean pleasant Welsh Irish american says the potato came pm the incas of ancient Peru and was carried to he Resi of the civilized world by the Spanish conquistadors. In the same High valleys where the cock Leaf grows the Polato grew probably a refugee from the Jungle below. The potato offered nutrition the coca Leaf a numbness from the pain of daily living in the rugged Mountain valleys of Peru. As a matter of fact cocaine plays a part in the planting ritual for potatoes to this Day Hughes says coca leaves Are placed in the ground with the seed potatoes and they Are sprinkled with Corn Beer. Hughes got a Fellowship to go to Peru last May to study the potato s origins. Hughes Gol interested in the subject while he was leaching at an International school in Brussels. He saw so Many museums devoted to the artefacts of War and Tom Hughes who my the Pitlo Mai Iem displays Kitchen ten tilt used in a thing potatoes. Nothing to the origins of Lood that he decided then and there to Champion the potato Solanum lube Rosa. Why not Brussel sprouts Polales Are a lot More valuable did he come from Idaho no. Maine no Long Island no. Philadelphia. Potatoes come in three colors red White and Blue. Hughes is discouraged thai More artists Don t use potatoes in their still lifes. They Don t understand that they can be quite Van Gogh he says did some still Lile paintings of the potato and his famous the potato eaters was his Lavoile. The Hughes family hosts friends in a potato eaters night once a week. Everyone must bring a potato dish everything from appetizers to dessert. Tom has no Favorita recipe. He likes them All. He teaches ancient history mathematics and English to fifth graders at the Potomac school which makes it difficult to keep the museum open visitors must Call to make an appointment. On this particular Day two visitors Are Young men Vince Brolsky of Washington and Mart Saroyan of Berkeley calif., both students. Saroyan is a Cousin of the Lale writer but never met his famous Kin. Tom questions him closely on armenian recipes that use potatoes. Mark says the armenian Ward for potato Means literally ground Apple and promises to keep an Eye open for anything new about the potato Hughes reminds you that Marilyn Monroe dipped potato chips in Champagne in tha movie the seven year itch " inca soldiers carried freeze dried potatoes in gels cold in those mountains As a lightweight foodstuff that could be boiled or added to stews. There Are anthologies of poems about potatoes. Cole Porter wrote you say potatoes and i say Polales Eddie Cantor Sang potatoes Are cheaper now s the time to fall in love a Colorado grower wrote a 120-Page epic in rhyme to the potato and its origins the norwegians like others use the potato to make whiskey. But they believe that in was not ready Tor drinking until it had made a round trip by ship to Australia the labels state when a whiskey embarked on its voyage the name of the ship and the Date in returned to Norway. The chel at Antoine s in new Orleans Cooks up Little baskets of Woven potato peels to serve his Lamous potato souffles Tom has one in the museum of course one of 2,000 items and 400 exhibits his wife says blight one or another of their rooms in spite of that she shares his enthusiasm for the tuber and edits the news letter peelings which goes out to members in 35 slates and several foreign countries. Among the exhibits Are color pictures using an Auto Chrome process which relied on dyed potato crystals. They predated color film by about 30 years and the National geographic used the Auto Chrome process for 10 years. Despite his study of the 10,000 varieties of potato. Tom Hughes eels. The potato is taken too much or granted. It really is misunderstood and most restaurants do not prepare it correctly to says and most of the fresh potatoes on the Market Are being replaced by processed Lubers. I be been thinking and studying this subject for 11 years and there s so much More to learn a says. Thai s what s exciting. It s not he dreams of seeing the potatoes grown in monasteries by tibetan monks or potatoes grown from True seed and not seed potatoes in China and tracing How Captain Cook brought the potatoes to the maoris. Maybe even doing a Polato documentary. The Many splendid journeys of the at the very least he says he would like to be Washington d.c., with a sobriquet like new York s big Apple. He nominates the hoi potato " an origin or potato haul if sit a toyed at Tow Polato Muton la Washington d.c., founded by Tom . The stars and stripes Page 15
