It’s so powerful that a large portion of the world consumes potatoes today — and this wasn’t a thing, three hundred years ago. Back then, potatoes were seen as “lowly” food, worthy only of being given to pigs and cattle. A man named Antoine-Augustin Parmentier was the biggest promoter of potato consumption. He knew of their nutrional value.
How do you make a food source (or anything, really) popular? You make it seem desirable and you make it seem exclusive. So Parmentier went and built a farm. And he placed armed guards near that farm, guarding his “precious potatoes”. At night, he’d remove the guards… and, lo and behold, poor people from town would sneak onto his fields and steal his potatoes. They discovered that potatoes were quite good when prepared well. Not to mention, nutritious.
Reverse psychology helped make the potato a popular staple food. And because of it’s nutrional value, it helped improve the health and well-being of millions of European people. All because of one man playing mind games with people who wouldn’t have touched the stuff with a ten foot pole otherwise.
How do you make a food source (or anything, really) popular? You make it seem desirable and you make it seem exclusive. So Parmentier went and built a farm. And he placed armed guards near that farm, guarding his “precious potatoes”. At night, he’d remove the guards… and, lo and behold, poor people from town would sneak onto his fields and steal his potatoes. They discovered that potatoes were quite good when prepared well. Not to mention, nutritious.
Reverse psychology helped make the potato a popular staple food. And because of it’s nutrional value, it helped improve the health and well-being of millions of European people. All because of one man playing mind games with people who wouldn’t have touched the stuff with a ten foot pole otherwise.
