My Own Private Idaho (Potato)

From: Peter Larsen <plarsen_at_mail.utexas.edu>
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 10:14:06 -0600


Wow!

        I thought I was asking a simple question. Then I left town for 4 days. My return had a mailbox full of . Thanks to everyone for responding. I'm going to attempt a summary, and see who shoots me down.

        Potatoes are grown in Central Genertela. They are important crops in Carmania, serving as food and a basis for alcohol. Whether the potato was brought with the Westerners or discovered in Pelanda is unclear, but they sure like it now.

        In Peloria, potatoes have strong associations with the Earth and peasants (with maybe a touch of Darkness). They are probably considered inappropriate for upper class Dara Happans, and their Earth connections make them taboo for many Solar types. The Lunars have encouraged potato production to feed the poor (and the army), which has not improved its popularity with the upper classes any. Hard line Dara Happans probably dislike the tuber because of its role in Carmanian cuisine as well.

        There is probably a Dara Happan goddess who deals with potatoes. Asrelia also has some say, probably serving as the Uz potato godess (should they need one). Asrelia's potato connections might help explain Lunar use of potato bread to feed the poor rather than growing more grain (that and the fact that potatoes grow in smaller plots, have more nutrients, and are a poverty food in the RW). Being connected, however tenuously, with Uz and Darkness make the potato even less pleasant for the Solar upper class.

        As the Lunars have spread, they have brought the potato with them. Some cultures have adopted it as a useful food, some have rejected it as a nasty trick, some have enthusiastically embraced the culinary potential (or just the vodka), a few have probably internalized the Dara Happan opinion -- good enough for the poor but keep it off my table.

        In Sartar, the potato is known, but the land is not particularly suited to its cultivation. Ernalda does not have a specific potato subcult, but there are daimones who can aid the tubers' growth under the general supervision of Garden-Ernalda. Most Heortlings despise the potato as a Lunar invention. Clans and tribes with strong Lunar sympathies may grow potatoes as a garden grop, although the environmental and mythic factors prevent it from becoming the major crop it is in the RW. Perhaps a few clans have begun limited worship of the Pelorian Potato Goddess and begun to raise potatoes as a method of paying their taxes using less space (the Lunar Army eats a lot of potatoes, I bet).

        Whew. Any problems with the above? Again, thanks for all the nifty ideas. Next on Oprah: Ernaldans with Wheat Allergies....

Peter Larsen

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