From the ‘Civilizing’ Potato to the Popular Potato

 In the 17th century, the British East India company upon arriving discovered that in spite of potato’s introduction to the subcontinent by Portuguese traders, its cultivation and consumption was scant. Unsuitable hot and dry climatic conditions were initially held responsible.

Promotion of the tuber regardless of climatic limitations had multi-layered motivations. According to Utsa Ray, in the 18th and 19th century potato had been a staple among Britain’s lower economic classes, and thus been disdained. Regardless, it was popularized in Ireland for preservation against famine, and the “food for poor” sentiment caused its dissemination in India too.

According to others, colonialism and the trendy Enlightenment ideologies on happiness made potato a prominent addition to the Indian cuisine. Food historian Rachael Earle remarks that colonizers deemed public happiness their supreme ambition, which entailed it was their right, even a cardinal “moral imperative” to rule over India. Potato was majorly instrumental in achieving this. 

Contradictorily, in practise, the well-being of the colonizers was prioritized over the natives’, seen in the way the experimental land significant for potato cultivation in Calcutta was confiscated from the locals. Hence, having a

rhapsodic hand in the upliftment of the masses was more significant than the practical nutrition the tuber could provide.

The advancement of potatoes was done for a thriving political economy, to increase Britain’s wealth and to provide laborers with revenue generation. But colonizers weren’t pragmatists or even noble in this context – the ‘civilizing’ mission was central. The notion was that Indian agriculture was grossly inept at providing nutritious food, and needed a patronizing enhancement from the colonizers. The substitution of local crops with superior foreign plants stemmed from this. Potato, thus, was to be a substitute for rice. But contrary to their expectations, potato was assimilated into the Indian cuisine very significantly, but not as a replacement.