The Halachic Adventures of the Potato Ever since first ‘making
the scene’ via the victorious Spaniards shipping them from the
conquered Incas to their own colonies and armies throughout
Europe in the late 1500s, the ubiquitous potato has been a
considerable mainstay on the world stage. From circumnavigating
the globe with Sir Francis Drake, to famed French physician
Antoine Parmentier's waxing poetic about this nightshade’s
nutritional value, to Queen Marie Antoinette wearing a headdress
of potato flowers at a fancy ball (obviously while she still had
her head), by the 1770s the potato had become a staple crop
throughout Europe. What other vegetable has been credited with
helping facilitate such diverse events as the Industrial
Revolution, the Great Irish Famine of 1845 (due to their
susceptibility to blight), Russia’s proclivity for vodka, and a
U.S. Vice President’s public spelling debacle? Yet, aside for
the tuber’s worldly presence, it also holds a unique place in
the annals of Halacha, and not just by it