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Ridiculous History

A Ridiculous History of Potatoes, Part One: the Origin Story

Ridiculous History

iHeartPodcasts

History, Society & Culture

4.24.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Potatoes are amazing. While these sturdy little tubers may not seem immediately impressive, they're one of agricultural's biggest success stories. So, how did they grow from a domestic crop in South America to an absolute global phenomenon? In the first part of this special two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max discover the origin of the potato -- and how a single French pharmacist launched a massive PR campaign to popularize spuds in Europe.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Ridiculous History is a production of IHeart Radio. Welcome back to the show.

0:28.2

Fellow ridiculous historians, thank you, as always so much for tuning in.

0:32.9

Let's hear it for the man, the myth, the legend, the guy I almost called Super Producer Max Taters Williams.

0:41.5

Sorry, there's a guy from Daily Zikeist who goes by Taters O'Brien.

0:47.0

I don't know if you guys know this, but potatoes, I can have them with the condition.

0:50.6

The condition.

0:51.8

It's like one of the seven foods.

0:53.7

One of the seven? Oh, my gosh. There's more than seven. It's like one of the seven foods. One of the seven.

0:55.4

Oh my gosh.

0:56.0

There's more than the seven.

0:57.2

There's a pantheon.

0:59.0

We are joined by none other than not only my favorite co-hosts, but also our research

1:06.2

associate for today's episode, which will be part of a series, Mr. Noel Brown.

1:12.8

Yeah, it's me and Apollo the Dog who lent a paw in this potato deep dive, which went a lot deeper than I thought it would.

1:20.1

You're Ben, by the way.

1:21.6

I am Ben Bowlin.

1:22.7

We've got Mr. Jackpots over here who has quieted down because jackpots can't wait to explore,

1:32.0

Noel, what you and I agreed will be part of a continuing series.

1:36.3

Well, a series of two likely, but who knows?

1:40.0

I was kind of surprised at how deep the, what do you go, but The potato hole went all the way down to the core of the earth.

1:47.7

Potatoes run deep in this one.

1:49.9

And they're delicious, too.

...

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