A millenary exhibition about the potato

Among the activities planned due to the celebration of the International Year of the Potato, the National Museum in Lima features “The potato: sacred and profane symbol”, a cultural exhibition that shows the rich customs and traditions emerged round potatoes, how their production spread around the Americas, Europe and Asia, and pays tribute to the Andean farmers that knew how to develop it since ancestral times.

The origin of the potato is located on the Peruvian Andes, north of Lake Titicaca; it is 8,000 years old and has 5,500 varieties. Potato is one of the four most important crops in the world together with wheat, maize and rice.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations declared 2008 as the International Year of the Potato, aiming to revalue, increase and promote the investment and development of the production of this tuber. Since Peru has the greatest diversity of potatoes in the world, the event was launched early this year at the Botanical Garden of Moray, Urubamba, in the region of Cusco.