The Potato as an Emerging Crop

A review of the literature on the history of the potato—from its crossing of the Atlantic to Europe and then to Africa—shows that, for the most part, this crop has served as a “safety net,” a “crisis-proof” food, a plant that was unloved in some countries but forced into human consumption by a combination of circumstances. Is its other name not “Parmentier”? The French recognize it as such. The mountains of Cameroon are no exception to this rule. Introduced to feed the animals on colonial farms established in the Manengouba and Bamboutos mountains, it was the indigenous people employed on these farms who were the first to realize that if pigs eat it and thrive, it stands to reason that humans can try it too. Since then, its consumption has spread from the mountains to the cities of Cameroon and then to Central Africa, etc., creating rural jobs in the mountains, new types of urban-rural connections, and reshaping society. Today, only those who can afford it consume it.