Potato - Revision history

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2023-06-22T14:43:42Z

45 revisions imported

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2023-06-19T02:57:03Z

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71.193.202.180: /* Hold the Phone!? */

2023-01-21T09:16:08Z

Hold the Phone!?

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:16, 21 January 2023
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	A lot of history is framed as the clash of civilizations and of great men doing great things, though more low key things that people don't pay much attention to working in the background can easily eclipse these guys. It took a while for the Potato to catch on since the plant's stem and fruit are both toxic and plain potatoes are rather bland, but when it did it was a game changer for European agriculture. It grew well in places where wheat did not, it could be grown in wheat fields when were left fallow, land which was not well suited for wheat or barley, was less susceptible to sudden frosts or armies burning fields (a rather common tactic in warfare and one which racked up a very nasty kill count as well), and (while they didn't know it) had the nutritional value of a vegetable instead of a grain (vitamin C and potassium). Once extracted it was ready for cooking and they keep well if stored in a cold, dark place. This caused a spike in Europe's population and laid the foundations for the [[Industrial Revolution]]. It’s not for nothing that potatoes are considered an important staple food in the more northerly parts of Europe, which have a shorter growing season and have traditionally had smaller populations compared to the warmer, southerly parts of the world.		A lot of history is framed as the clash of civilizations and of great men doing great things, though more low key things that people don't pay much attention to working in the background can easily eclipse these guys. It took a while for the Potato to catch on since the plant's stem and fruit are both toxic and plain potatoes are rather bland, but when it did it was a game changer for European agriculture. It grew well in places where wheat did not, it could be grown in wheat fields when were left fallow, land which was not well suited for wheat or barley, was less susceptible to sudden frosts or armies burning fields (a rather common tactic in warfare and one which racked up a very nasty kill count as well), and (while they didn't know it) had the nutritional value of a vegetable instead of a grain (vitamin C and potassium). Once extracted it was ready for cooking and they keep well if stored in a cold, dark place. This caused a spike in Europe's population and laid the foundations for the [[Industrial Revolution]]. It’s not for nothing that potatoes are considered an important staple food in the more northerly parts of Europe, which have a shorter growing season and have traditionally had smaller populations compared to the warmer, southerly parts of the world.

	In short, potatoes (alongside corn, tobacco, tomatoes, green beans, pumpkins, chocolate, strawberries, rubber, vanilla and a host of other things) did not reach Europe in medieval times. Strictly speaking this is not a problem with most fantasy worlds as it's history is not a one for one parallel with real world history and there is no reason why you can't have Brave Chivalrous Knights, Beautiful Elven mages, Proud Dwarven Guardians and Mighty Orcish Warriors with swords, axes, bows and staff who kick ass, complete quests and celebrate their victories with a basket of fries. It probably means that the population density is a bit higher than the actual middle ages, but this is generally not something to get worked up about in the majority of situations that would be pertinent for most games, since most Fantasy writers greatly exaggerate the population density in their works anyway (Altdorf from WHFB for example is canonically stated to have a population of 200.000 in a fictional Germany roughly stuck in the 15-1600s, yet the largest city in Germany at that time was Cologne with about a quarter). If you want for a bit more authenticity you are free to omit them from your game world as well. Which does not stop there are [[Skub\|some people]] from making a stink about it, either in terms of "Why do you have New World cultivars in a pre-Columbian world you uneducated peon!" as well as "Fuck you for saying that ''any'' game should ''ever'' be concerned with authenticity or fine details!" in response. Of course, your fantasy world may not have continents based on Eurasia and the Americas, or it may do but they have been trading for considerably longer than in Earth history. Also, a generally feudal lifestyle continued in Europe until as recently as the first world war, so many rural populations did not interact much with industrialisation, especially in areas far from international ports. Thus, even if your fantasy peasants do grow Earth crops (to save you inventing multiple whole crop families and histories) there is no reason to assign those crops the same origins as they had in real history.		In short, potatoes (alongside corn, tobacco, tomatoes, green beans, pumpkins, chocolate, strawberries, rubber, vanilla and a host of other things) did not reach Europe in medieval times. Strictly speaking this is not a problem with most fantasy worlds as it's history is not a one for one parallel with real world history and there is no reason why you can't have Brave Chivalrous Knights, Beautiful Elven mages, Proud Dwarven Guardians and Mighty Orcish Warriors with swords, axes, bows and staff who kick ass, complete quests and celebrate their victories with a basket of fries. It probably means that the population density is a bit higher than the actual middle ages, but this is generally not something to get worked up about in the majority of situations that would be pertinent for most games, since most Fantasy writers greatly exaggerate the population density in their works anyway (Altdorf from WHFB for example is canonically stated to have a population of 200.000 in a fictional Germany roughly stuck in the 15-1600s, yet the largest city in Germany at that time was Cologne with about a quarter, though it's in the right ball park for constantinople from the same time period). If you want for a bit more authenticity you are free to omit them from your game world as well. Which does not stop there are [[Skub\|some people]] from making a stink about it, either in terms of "Why do you have New World cultivars in a pre-Columbian world you uneducated peon!" as well as "Fuck you for saying that ''any'' game should ''ever'' be concerned with authenticity or fine details!" in response. Of course, your fantasy world may not have continents based on Eurasia and the Americas, or it may do but they have been trading for considerably longer than in Earth history. Also, a generally feudal lifestyle continued in Europe until as recently as the first world war, so many rural populations did not interact much with industrialisation, especially in areas far from international ports. Thus, even if your fantasy peasants do grow Earth crops (to save you inventing multiple whole crop families and histories) there is no reason to assign those crops the same origins as they had in real history.

	==As A Meme==		==As A Meme==

2600:1006:B142:88CD:17C:29A7:5E6D:A651: /* Hold the Phone!? */

2022-10-11T18:58:25Z

Hold the Phone!?

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:58, 11 October 2022
Line 12:		Line 12:
	People often think of potatoes like bowls, hammers and brooms: things that have been around forever and don't need much explanation. "They've always been here as long as people have been farming". Many fantasy writers have served knights baked potatoes at their inns as a background point and even [[Tolkien]] had Samwise expounding on the simple joys of a plate of chips. This is contrasted with things like [[firearm]]s which ''Everyone Knows'' is a comparatively recent inventions and the presence of which is seen as a separating point between the [[Bretonnia\|Days of Old]] and the [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)\|Early Modern World]]. The rub about Potatoes was that for most people they showed up well after guns did. As mentioned above, Potatoes are native to the Andes region of South America and did not really spread from there as that region was in the tropics but fairly cool despite that due to it's altitude, leaving aside the fact that it separated from Eurasia by thousands of kilometers of ocean. The first Europeans that ever saw a Potato was Pizarro's gun armed party of Conquistadors in the 1530s. The first potatoes to reach Eurasia were surplus rations on board Spanish treasure ships that were sold off and and cultivated by Spanish peasants and grown ornamentally.		People often think of potatoes like bowls, hammers and brooms: things that have been around forever and don't need much explanation. "They've always been here as long as people have been farming". Many fantasy writers have served knights baked potatoes at their inns as a background point and even [[Tolkien]] had Samwise expounding on the simple joys of a plate of chips. This is contrasted with things like [[firearm]]s which ''Everyone Knows'' is a comparatively recent inventions and the presence of which is seen as a separating point between the [[Bretonnia\|Days of Old]] and the [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)\|Early Modern World]]. The rub about Potatoes was that for most people they showed up well after guns did. As mentioned above, Potatoes are native to the Andes region of South America and did not really spread from there as that region was in the tropics but fairly cool despite that due to it's altitude, leaving aside the fact that it separated from Eurasia by thousands of kilometers of ocean. The first Europeans that ever saw a Potato was Pizarro's gun armed party of Conquistadors in the 1530s. The first potatoes to reach Eurasia were surplus rations on board Spanish treasure ships that were sold off and and cultivated by Spanish peasants and grown ornamentally.

	A lot of history is framed as the clash of civilizations and of great men doing great things, though more low key things that people don't pay much attention to working in the background can easily eclipse these guys. It took a while for the Potato to catch on since the plant's stem and fruit are both toxic and plain potatoes are rather bland, but when it did it was a game changer for European agriculture. It grew well in places where wheat did not, it could be grown in wheat fields when were left fallow, land which was not well suited for wheat or barley, was less susceptible to sudden frosts or armies burning fields (a rather common tactic in warfare and one which racked up a very nasty kill count as well), and (while they didn't know it) had the nutritional value of a vegetable instead of a grain (vitamin C and potassium). Once extracted it was ready for cooking and they keep well if stored in a cold, dark place. This caused a spike in Europe's population and laid the foundations for the [[Industrial Revolution]].		A lot of history is framed as the clash of civilizations and of great men doing great things, though more low key things that people don't pay much attention to working in the background can easily eclipse these guys. It took a while for the Potato to catch on since the plant's stem and fruit are both toxic and plain potatoes are rather bland, but when it did it was a game changer for European agriculture. It grew well in places where wheat did not, it could be grown in wheat fields when were left fallow, land which was not well suited for wheat or barley, was less susceptible to sudden frosts or armies burning fields (a rather common tactic in warfare and one which racked up a very nasty kill count as well), and (while they didn't know it) had the nutritional value of a vegetable instead of a grain (vitamin C and potassium). Once extracted it was ready for cooking and they keep well if stored in a cold, dark place. This caused a spike in Europe's population and laid the foundations for the [[Industrial Revolution]]. It’s not for nothing that potatoes are considered an important staple food in the more northerly parts of Europe, which have a shorter growing season and have traditionally had smaller populations compared to the warmer, southerly parts of the world.

	In short, potatoes (alongside corn, tobacco, tomatoes, green beans, pumpkins, chocolate, strawberries, rubber, vanilla and a host of other things) did not reach Europe in medieval times. Strictly speaking this is not a problem with most fantasy worlds as it's history is not a one for one parallel with real world history and there is no reason why you can't have Brave Chivalrous Knights, Beautiful Elven mages, Proud Dwarven Guardians and Mighty Orcish Warriors with swords, axes, bows and staff who kick ass, complete quests and celebrate their victories with a basket of fries. It probably means that the population density is a bit higher than the actual middle ages, but this is generally not something to get worked up about in the majority of situations that would be pertinent for most games, since most Fantasy writers greatly exaggerate the population density in their works anyway (Altdorf from WHFB for example is canonically stated to have a population of 200.000 in a fictional Germany roughly stuck in the 15-1600s, yet the largest city in Germany at that time was Cologne with about a quarter). If you want for a bit more authenticity you are free to omit them from your game world as well. Which does not stop there are [[Skub\|some people]] from making a stink about it, either in terms of "Why do you have New World cultivars in a pre-Columbian world you uneducated peon!" as well as "Fuck you for saying that ''any'' game should ''ever'' be concerned with authenticity or fine details!" in response. Of course, your fantasy world may not have continents based on Eurasia and the Americas, or it may do but they have been trading for considerably longer than in Earth history. Also, a generally feudal lifestyle continued in Europe until as recently as the first world war, so many rural populations did not interact much with industrialisation, especially in areas far from international ports. Thus, even if your fantasy peasants do grow Earth crops (to save you inventing multiple whole crop families and histories) there is no reason to assign those crops the same origins as they had in real history.		In short, potatoes (alongside corn, tobacco, tomatoes, green beans, pumpkins, chocolate, strawberries, rubber, vanilla and a host of other things) did not reach Europe in medieval times. Strictly speaking this is not a problem with most fantasy worlds as it's history is not a one for one parallel with real world history and there is no reason why you can't have Brave Chivalrous Knights, Beautiful Elven mages, Proud Dwarven Guardians and Mighty Orcish Warriors with swords, axes, bows and staff who kick ass, complete quests and celebrate their victories with a basket of fries. It probably means that the population density is a bit higher than the actual middle ages, but this is generally not something to get worked up about in the majority of situations that would be pertinent for most games, since most Fantasy writers greatly exaggerate the population density in their works anyway (Altdorf from WHFB for example is canonically stated to have a population of 200.000 in a fictional Germany roughly stuck in the 15-1600s, yet the largest city in Germany at that time was Cologne with about a quarter). If you want for a bit more authenticity you are free to omit them from your game world as well. Which does not stop there are [[Skub\|some people]] from making a stink about it, either in terms of "Why do you have New World cultivars in a pre-Columbian world you uneducated peon!" as well as "Fuck you for saying that ''any'' game should ''ever'' be concerned with authenticity or fine details!" in response. Of course, your fantasy world may not have continents based on Eurasia and the Americas, or it may do but they have been trading for considerably longer than in Earth history. Also, a generally feudal lifestyle continued in Europe until as recently as the first world war, so many rural populations did not interact much with industrialisation, especially in areas far from international ports. Thus, even if your fantasy peasants do grow Earth crops (to save you inventing multiple whole crop families and histories) there is no reason to assign those crops the same origins as they had in real history.

1d4chan>Gilten: topquote

2022-08-19T05:59:48Z

topquote

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:59, 19 August 2022
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	[[File:Potato_plant.jpg\|300px\|thumb\|right\|A Potato Plant]]		[[File:Potato_plant.jpg\|300px\|thumb\|right\|A Potato Plant]]

			{{Topquote\|Po-ta-toes! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew. Lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish. Even you couldn't say no to that.\|Samwise Gamgee, ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''}}

	The '''Potato''' (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial herbaceous eudicot cultivar of the nightshade family (yes, potatoes are actually related to freaking nightshade) native to the Andes. Potato plants usually grow about 60cm tall and produces small toxic fruit which bear a vague resemblance to the Tomato plant (a close relative to the Potato). First domesticated around 7,000 to 10,000 years ago Potato plants are cultivated for their starchy tubers, which an individual plant can produce several dozen which contain most of the nutrients that humans require to survive and is a highly productive crop per square kilometer of arable land in temperate latitudes. Potatoes can be grown from seeds or by clone propagation by planting a tuber or sections of tubers and each plant can be harvested multiple times by replanting the plant. For added fun and craziness, since Potatoes and Tomatoes are from the same family, you can even chop off the above ground part and graft on a Tomato plant (commonly referred to as a Pomato, TomTato, or Ketchup and Fries plant)!		The '''Potato''' (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial herbaceous eudicot cultivar of the nightshade family (yes, potatoes are actually related to freaking nightshade) native to the Andes. Potato plants usually grow about 60cm tall and produces small toxic fruit which bear a vague resemblance to the Tomato plant (a close relative to the Potato). First domesticated around 7,000 to 10,000 years ago Potato plants are cultivated for their starchy tubers, which an individual plant can produce several dozen which contain most of the nutrients that humans require to survive and is a highly productive crop per square kilometer of arable land in temperate latitudes. Potatoes can be grown from seeds or by clone propagation by planting a tuber or sections of tubers and each plant can be harvested multiple times by replanting the plant. For added fun and craziness, since Potatoes and Tomatoes are from the same family, you can even chop off the above ground part and graft on a Tomato plant (commonly referred to as a Pomato, TomTato, or Ketchup and Fries plant)!

2600:6C46:6F00:136F:2471:5318:A1CC:2D3A at 05:31, 19 August 2022

2022-08-19T05:31:00Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:31, 19 August 2022
Line 1:		Line 1:
	[[File:Potato_plant.jpg\|300px\|thumb\|right\|A Potato Plant]]		[[File:Potato_plant.jpg\|300px\|thumb\|right\|A Potato Plant]]
	The '''Potato''' (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial herbaceous eudicot cultivar of the nightshade family (yes, potatoes are actually related to freaking nightshade) native to the Andes. Potato plants usually grow about 60cm tall and produces small toxic fruit which bear a vague resemblance to the Tomato plant (a close relative to the Potato). First domesticated around 7,000 to 10,000 years ago Potato plants are cultivated for their starchy tubers, which an individual plant can produce several dozen which contain most of the nutrients that humans require to survive and is a highly productive crop per square kilometer of arable land in temperate latitudes. Potatoes can be grown from seeds or by clone propagation by planting a tuber or sections of tubers and each plant can be harvested multiple times by replanting the plant. The Potato is a common staple foodstuff in many regions around the world prepared in a wide variety of ways, you can [[Lord of the Rings\|boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.]]		The '''Potato''' (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial herbaceous eudicot cultivar of the nightshade family (yes, potatoes are actually related to freaking nightshade) native to the Andes. Potato plants usually grow about 60cm tall and produces small toxic fruit which bear a vague resemblance to the Tomato plant (a close relative to the Potato). First domesticated around 7,000 to 10,000 years ago Potato plants are cultivated for their starchy tubers, which an individual plant can produce several dozen which contain most of the nutrients that humans require to survive and is a highly productive crop per square kilometer of arable land in temperate latitudes. Potatoes can be grown from seeds or by clone propagation by planting a tuber or sections of tubers and each plant can be harvested multiple times by replanting the plant. For added fun and craziness, since Potatoes and Tomatoes are from the same family, you can even chop off the above ground part and graft on a Tomato plant (commonly referred to as a Pomato, TomTato, or Ketchup and Fries plant)!

			The Potato is a common staple foodstuff in many regions around the world prepared in a wide variety of ways, you can [[Lord of the Rings\|boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.]]

	== Hold the Phone!? ==		== Hold the Phone!? ==

31.46.245.143 at 06:36, 25 January 2022

2022-01-25T06:36:12Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:36, 25 January 2022
Line 1:		Line 1:
	[[File:Potato_plant.jpg\|300px\|thumb\|right\|A Potato Plant]]		[[File:Potato_plant.jpg\|300px\|thumb\|right\|A Potato Plant]]
	The '''Potato''' (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial herbaceous eudicot cultivar of the nightshade family (yes, potatoes are actually related to freaking nightshade) native to the Andes. Potato plants usually grow about 60cm tall and produces small toxic fruit which bear a vague resemblance to the Tomato plant (a close relative to the Potato). First domesticated around 7,000 to 10,000 years ago Potato plants are cultivated for their starchy tubers, which an individual plant can produce several dozen which contain most of the nutrients that humans require to survive and is a highly productive crop per square kilometer of arable land in temperate latitudes. Potatoes can be grown from seeds or by clone propagation by planting a tuber or sections of tubers and each plant can be harvested multiple times by replanting the plant. The Potato is a common staple foodstuff in many regions around the world prepared in a wide variety of ways, you can [[Lord of the Rings\|boil 'em mash 'em stick 'em in a stew.]]		The '''Potato''' (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial herbaceous eudicot cultivar of the nightshade family (yes, potatoes are actually related to freaking nightshade) native to the Andes. Potato plants usually grow about 60cm tall and produces small toxic fruit which bear a vague resemblance to the Tomato plant (a close relative to the Potato). First domesticated around 7,000 to 10,000 years ago Potato plants are cultivated for their starchy tubers, which an individual plant can produce several dozen which contain most of the nutrients that humans require to survive and is a highly productive crop per square kilometer of arable land in temperate latitudes. Potatoes can be grown from seeds or by clone propagation by planting a tuber or sections of tubers and each plant can be harvested multiple times by replanting the plant. The Potato is a common staple foodstuff in many regions around the world prepared in a wide variety of ways, you can [[Lord of the Rings\|boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.]]

	== Hold the Phone!? ==		== Hold the Phone!? ==

1d4chan>A Walrus: /* Hold the Phone!? */

2021-08-13T23:07:31Z

Hold the Phone!?

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:07, 13 August 2021
Line 5:		Line 5:
	You are probably thinking something to the effect of "I'm here reading about wizards and knights and swords and dragons and stuff and out of the blue comes a page about root vegetables? Why the hell is up with this?" Well, like many things here, it comes down to pedantry.		You are probably thinking something to the effect of "I'm here reading about wizards and knights and swords and dragons and stuff and out of the blue comes a page about root vegetables? Why the hell is up with this?" Well, like many things here, it comes down to pedantry.

	People often think of potatoes like bowls, hammers and brooms: things that have been around forever and don't need much explanation. They've always been here as long as people have been farming. Many fantasy writers have served knights baked potatoes at their inns as a background point and even [[Tolkien]] had Samwise expounding on the simple joys of a plate of chips. This is contrasted with things like [[firearm]]s which ''Everyone Knows'' is a comparatively recent inventions and the presence of which is seen as a separating point between the [[Bretonnia\|Days of Old]] and the [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)\|Early Modern World]]. The rub about Potatoes was that for most people they showed up well after guns did. As mentioned above, Potatoes are native to the Andes region of South America and did not really spread from there as that region was in the tropics but fairly cool despite that due to it's altitude, leaving aside the fact that it separated from Eurasia by thousands of kilometers of ocean. The first Europeans that ever saw a Potato was Pizarro's gun armed party of Conquistadors in the 1530s. The first potatoes to reach Eurasia were surplus rations on board Spanish treasure ships that were sold off and and cultivated by Spanish peasants and grown ornamentally.		People often think of potatoes like bowls, hammers and brooms: things that have been around forever and don't need much explanation. "They've always been here as long as people have been farming". Many fantasy writers have served knights baked potatoes at their inns as a background point and even [[Tolkien]] had Samwise expounding on the simple joys of a plate of chips. This is contrasted with things like [[firearm]]s which ''Everyone Knows'' is a comparatively recent inventions and the presence of which is seen as a separating point between the [[Bretonnia\|Days of Old]] and the [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)\|Early Modern World]]. The rub about Potatoes was that for most people they showed up well after guns did. As mentioned above, Potatoes are native to the Andes region of South America and did not really spread from there as that region was in the tropics but fairly cool despite that due to it's altitude, leaving aside the fact that it separated from Eurasia by thousands of kilometers of ocean. The first Europeans that ever saw a Potato was Pizarro's gun armed party of Conquistadors in the 1530s. The first potatoes to reach Eurasia were surplus rations on board Spanish treasure ships that were sold off and and cultivated by Spanish peasants and grown ornamentally.

	A lot of history is framed as the clash of civilizations and of great men doing great things, though more low key things that people don't pay much attention to working in the background can easily eclipse these guys. It took a while for the Potato to catch on since the plant's stem and fruit are both toxic and plain potatoes are rather bland, but when it did it was a game changer for European agriculture. It grew well in places where wheat did not, it could be grown in wheat fields when were left fallow, land which was not well suited for wheat or barley, was less susceptible to sudden frosts or armies burning fields (a rather common tactic in warfare and one which racked up a very nasty kill count as well), and (while they didn't know it) had the nutritional value of a vegetable instead of a grain (vitamin C and potassium). Once extracted it was ready for cooking and they keep well if stored in a cold, dark place. This caused a spike in Europe's population and laid the foundations for the [[Industrial Revolution]].		A lot of history is framed as the clash of civilizations and of great men doing great things, though more low key things that people don't pay much attention to working in the background can easily eclipse these guys. It took a while for the Potato to catch on since the plant's stem and fruit are both toxic and plain potatoes are rather bland, but when it did it was a game changer for European agriculture. It grew well in places where wheat did not, it could be grown in wheat fields when were left fallow, land which was not well suited for wheat or barley, was less susceptible to sudden frosts or armies burning fields (a rather common tactic in warfare and one which racked up a very nasty kill count as well), and (while they didn't know it) had the nutritional value of a vegetable instead of a grain (vitamin C and potassium). Once extracted it was ready for cooking and they keep well if stored in a cold, dark place. This caused a spike in Europe's population and laid the foundations for the [[Industrial Revolution]].

1d4chan>MagicMedic at 15:04, 13 August 2021

2021-08-13T15:04:40Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:04, 13 August 2021
Line 9:		Line 9:
	A lot of history is framed as the clash of civilizations and of great men doing great things, though more low key things that people don't pay much attention to working in the background can easily eclipse these guys. It took a while for the Potato to catch on since the plant's stem and fruit are both toxic and plain potatoes are rather bland, but when it did it was a game changer for European agriculture. It grew well in places where wheat did not, it could be grown in wheat fields when were left fallow, land which was not well suited for wheat or barley, was less susceptible to sudden frosts or armies burning fields (a rather common tactic in warfare and one which racked up a very nasty kill count as well), and (while they didn't know it) had the nutritional value of a vegetable instead of a grain (vitamin C and potassium). Once extracted it was ready for cooking and they keep well if stored in a cold, dark place. This caused a spike in Europe's population and laid the foundations for the [[Industrial Revolution]].		A lot of history is framed as the clash of civilizations and of great men doing great things, though more low key things that people don't pay much attention to working in the background can easily eclipse these guys. It took a while for the Potato to catch on since the plant's stem and fruit are both toxic and plain potatoes are rather bland, but when it did it was a game changer for European agriculture. It grew well in places where wheat did not, it could be grown in wheat fields when were left fallow, land which was not well suited for wheat or barley, was less susceptible to sudden frosts or armies burning fields (a rather common tactic in warfare and one which racked up a very nasty kill count as well), and (while they didn't know it) had the nutritional value of a vegetable instead of a grain (vitamin C and potassium). Once extracted it was ready for cooking and they keep well if stored in a cold, dark place. This caused a spike in Europe's population and laid the foundations for the [[Industrial Revolution]].

	In short, potatoes (alongside corn, tobacco, tomatoes, green beans, pumpkins, chocolate, strawberries, rubber, vanilla and a host of other things) did not reach Europe in medieval times. Strictly speaking this is not a problem with most fantasy worlds as it's history is not a one for one parallel with real world history and there is no reason why you can't have Brave Chivalrous Knights, Beautiful Elven mages, Proud Dwarven Guardians and Mighty Orcish Warriors with swords, axes, bows and staff who kick ass, complete quests and celebrate their victories with a basket of fries. It probably means that the population density is a bit higher than the actual middle ages, but this is generally not something to get worked up about in the majority of situations that would be pertinent for most games. If you want for a bit more authenticity you are free to omit them from your game world as well. Which does not stop there are [[Skub\|some people]] from making a stink about it, either in terms of "Why do you have New World cultivars in a pre-Columbian world you uneducated peon!" as well as "Fuck you for saying that ''any'' game should ''ever'' be concerned with authenticity or fine details!" in response. Of course, your fantasy world may not have continents based on Eurasia and the Americas, or it may do but they have been trading for considerably longer than in Earth history. Also, a generally feudal lifestyle continued in Europe until as recently as the first world war, so many rural populations did not interact much with industrialisation, especially in areas far from international ports. Thus, even if your fantasy peasants do grow Earth crops (to save you inventing multiple whole crop families and histories) there is no reason to assign those crops the same origins as they had in real history.		In short, potatoes (alongside corn, tobacco, tomatoes, green beans, pumpkins, chocolate, strawberries, rubber, vanilla and a host of other things) did not reach Europe in medieval times. Strictly speaking this is not a problem with most fantasy worlds as it's history is not a one for one parallel with real world history and there is no reason why you can't have Brave Chivalrous Knights, Beautiful Elven mages, Proud Dwarven Guardians and Mighty Orcish Warriors with swords, axes, bows and staff who kick ass, complete quests and celebrate their victories with a basket of fries. It probably means that the population density is a bit higher than the actual middle ages, but this is generally not something to get worked up about in the majority of situations that would be pertinent for most games, since most Fantasy writers greatly exaggerate the population density in their works anyway (Altdorf from WHFB for example is canonically stated to have a population of 200.000 in a fictional Germany roughly stuck in the 15-1600s, yet the largest city in Germany at that time was Cologne with about a quarter). If you want for a bit more authenticity you are free to omit them from your game world as well. Which does not stop there are [[Skub\|some people]] from making a stink about it, either in terms of "Why do you have New World cultivars in a pre-Columbian world you uneducated peon!" as well as "Fuck you for saying that ''any'' game should ''ever'' be concerned with authenticity or fine details!" in response. Of course, your fantasy world may not have continents based on Eurasia and the Americas, or it may do but they have been trading for considerably longer than in Earth history. Also, a generally feudal lifestyle continued in Europe until as recently as the first world war, so many rural populations did not interact much with industrialisation, especially in areas far from international ports. Thus, even if your fantasy peasants do grow Earth crops (to save you inventing multiple whole crop families and histories) there is no reason to assign those crops the same origins as they had in real history.

	==As A Meme==		==As A Meme==

1d4chan>Agiletek at 22:32, 31 March 2020

2020-03-31T22:32:55Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:32, 31 March 2020
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	People often think of potatoes like bowls, hammers and brooms: things that have been around forever and don't need much explanation. They've always been here as long as people have been farming. Many fantasy writers have served knights baked potatoes at their inns as a background point and even [[Tolkien]] had Samwise expounding on the simple joys of a plate of chips. This is contrasted with things like [[firearm]]s which ''Everyone Knows'' is a comparatively recent inventions and the presence of which is seen as a separating point between the [[Bretonnia\|Days of Old]] and the [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)\|Early Modern World]]. The rub about Potatoes was that for most people they showed up well after guns did. As mentioned above, Potatoes are native to the Andes region of South America and did not really spread from there as that region was in the tropics but fairly cool despite that due to it's altitude, leaving aside the fact that it separated from Eurasia by thousands of kilometers of ocean. The first Europeans that ever saw a Potato was Pizarro's gun armed party of Conquistadors in the 1530s. The first potatoes to reach Eurasia were surplus rations on board Spanish treasure ships that were sold off and and cultivated by Spanish peasants and grown ornamentally.		People often think of potatoes like bowls, hammers and brooms: things that have been around forever and don't need much explanation. They've always been here as long as people have been farming. Many fantasy writers have served knights baked potatoes at their inns as a background point and even [[Tolkien]] had Samwise expounding on the simple joys of a plate of chips. This is contrasted with things like [[firearm]]s which ''Everyone Knows'' is a comparatively recent inventions and the presence of which is seen as a separating point between the [[Bretonnia\|Days of Old]] and the [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)\|Early Modern World]]. The rub about Potatoes was that for most people they showed up well after guns did. As mentioned above, Potatoes are native to the Andes region of South America and did not really spread from there as that region was in the tropics but fairly cool despite that due to it's altitude, leaving aside the fact that it separated from Eurasia by thousands of kilometers of ocean. The first Europeans that ever saw a Potato was Pizarro's gun armed party of Conquistadors in the 1530s. The first potatoes to reach Eurasia were surplus rations on board Spanish treasure ships that were sold off and and cultivated by Spanish peasants and grown ornamentally.

	A lot of history is framed as the clash of civilizations and of great men doing great things, though more low key things that people don't pay much attention to working in the background can easily eclipse these guys. It took a while for the Potato to catch on since the plant's stem and fruit are both toxic and plain potatoes are rather bland, but when it did it was a game changer for European agriculture. It grew well in places where wheat did not, it could be grown in wheat fields when were left fallow, land which was not well suited for wheat or barley ~~and~~ was less susceptible to sudden frosts or armies burning fields (a rather common tactic in ~~modern~~ warfare and one which racked up a very nasty kill count as well). Once extracted it was ready for cooking and they keep well if stored in a cold, dark place. This caused a spike in Europe's population and laid the foundations for the [[Industrial Revolution]].		A lot of history is framed as the clash of civilizations and of great men doing great things, though more low key things that people don't pay much attention to working in the background can easily eclipse these guys. It took a while for the Potato to catch on since the plant's stem and fruit are both toxic and plain potatoes are rather bland, but when it did it was a game changer for European agriculture. It grew well in places where wheat did not, it could be grown in wheat fields when were left fallow, land which was not well suited for wheat or barley, was less susceptible to sudden frosts or armies burning fields (a rather common tactic in warfare and one which racked up a very nasty kill count as well), and (while they didn't know it) had the nutritional value of a vegetable instead of a grain (vitamin C and potassium). Once extracted it was ready for cooking and they keep well if stored in a cold, dark place. This caused a spike in Europe's population and laid the foundations for the [[Industrial Revolution]].

	In short, potatoes (alongside corn, tobacco, tomatoes, green beans, pumpkins, chocolate, strawberries, rubber, vanilla and a host of other things) did not reach Europe in medieval times. Strictly speaking this is not a problem with most fantasy worlds as it's history is not a one for one parallel with real world history and there is no reason why you can't have Brave Chivalrous Knights, Beautiful Elven mages, Proud Dwarven Guardians and Mighty Orcish Warriors with swords, axes, bows and staff who kick ass, complete quests and celebrate their victories with a basket of fries. It probably means that the population density is a bit higher than the actual middle ages, but this is generally not something to get worked up about in the majority of situations that would be pertinent for most games. If you want for a bit more authenticity you are free to omit them from your game world as well. Which does not stop there are [[Skub\|some people]] from making a stink about it, either in terms of "Why do you have New World cultivars in a pre-Columbian world you uneducated peon!" as well as "Fuck you for saying that ''any'' game should ''ever'' be concerned with authenticity or fine details!" in response. Of course, your fantasy world may not have continents based on Eurasia and the Americas, or it may do but they have been trading for considerably longer than in Earth history. Also, a generally feudal lifestyle continued in Europe until as recently as the first world war, so many rural populations did not interact much with industrialisation, especially in areas far from international ports. Thus, even if your fantasy peasants do grow Earth crops (to save you inventing multiple whole crop families and histories) there is no reason to assign those crops the same origins as they had in real history.		In short, potatoes (alongside corn, tobacco, tomatoes, green beans, pumpkins, chocolate, strawberries, rubber, vanilla and a host of other things) did not reach Europe in medieval times. Strictly speaking this is not a problem with most fantasy worlds as it's history is not a one for one parallel with real world history and there is no reason why you can't have Brave Chivalrous Knights, Beautiful Elven mages, Proud Dwarven Guardians and Mighty Orcish Warriors with swords, axes, bows and staff who kick ass, complete quests and celebrate their victories with a basket of fries. It probably means that the population density is a bit higher than the actual middle ages, but this is generally not something to get worked up about in the majority of situations that would be pertinent for most games. If you want for a bit more authenticity you are free to omit them from your game world as well. Which does not stop there are [[Skub\|some people]] from making a stink about it, either in terms of "Why do you have New World cultivars in a pre-Columbian world you uneducated peon!" as well as "Fuck you for saying that ''any'' game should ''ever'' be concerned with authenticity or fine details!" in response. Of course, your fantasy world may not have continents based on Eurasia and the Americas, or it may do but they have been trading for considerably longer than in Earth history. Also, a generally feudal lifestyle continued in Europe until as recently as the first world war, so many rural populations did not interact much with industrialisation, especially in areas far from international ports. Thus, even if your fantasy peasants do grow Earth crops (to save you inventing multiple whole crop families and histories) there is no reason to assign those crops the same origins as they had in real history.