Extreme Cuisine: Haydn Shaughnessy found his father's habits a little odd, especially the potato one. But he may have been more pathfinder than crank
My father was one of that unusual breed of men who walked around with a potato bulging in his hip pocket.
To ward off the rheumatics, he explained. The French of course, and the Transylvanians, used garlic to ward off all kinds of evil. Father was more drawn to potatoes.
The incomparable Mae West's line: Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me, has no obvious equivalent when an Irishman is carrying a knobbly King Edward next to his hip but I will encourage the editor to offer a prize to whoever can come up with the best way of completing this sentence:
"Is that a potato (Kerr Pink/King E etc) in your pocket or..."
Having ridiculed the old man for years (he kept the potato until it turned to stone and then offered it to any one of us as a present), imagine my surprise when reading New York diet counsellor, Felicia Kliment's book: The Acid Alkaline Balance Diet (Contemporary Books, New York 2002).
Kliment is a keen fan of the potato as a medicinal response to all kinds of acid-induced disease including stomach and duodenal ulcers, as well as arthritis and degenerative diseases caused by acids eroding the body's supply of minerals. Drop the Tagamet, bin the Protium.
I have never been one to boast about my father. In general I found many of his habits to be odd and embarrassing. I had simply failed to see him as a walking compendium of medical wisdom. Neglected, he died anonymously as do millions who know a bit more about food than your average chef.
He was a fanatical cabbage juice drinker. Juicing is now one of the in-set's must-do regimes. Dad pre-empted them by 50 years, stepping off his bicycle, plaster from the day's labour flaking off his sleeve, rather than climbing from a BMW, briefcase in hand.
And of course he remained to the last days tireless in pursuit of the health benefits of bottled Guinness. The arrival of the draught version was to him as significant as the proliferation of chemical additives in food. A sad day.
Surprise piles upon surprise as I begin to read about the origins of the potato as a medical product. The Incas used it to help heal broken bones and of course to cure rheumatic and digestive problems.
The potato creates mucilage, giving the stomach a protective layer. It is also highly alkalising and it brims with potassium. The great German cancer researcher Max Gerson recommended it as part of his anti-cancer diet on the grounds that most people eat an excess of sodium. Sodium, or salt, needs to be balanced by potassium.
In modern health diets people re-encouraged to reduce salt intake when in reality they should reduce salt and increase potassium intake.
Potassium's chemical symbol is K (look for it on bottled water and try to choose those that have an excess of potassium over sodium, Na).
K stands for the Latin Kalium which is believed to derive from the Arabic word Qali, or alkali. You start to get the picture, potato is a great alkaliser.
The switch from potato consumption to pasta in modern Ireland, and indeed in all English speaking countries, would be a fruitful area for scientists to investigate as the source of digestive problems.
Potatoes are one of the first causalities of slimming diets because of their high starch content.
The GI diet, however, makes the point that new potatoes are low in starch. Sweet potatoes even lower.
American scientists are currently busy cross breeding potatoes to create new strains with deeper skin colour and browner flesh because of the powerful antioxidant nature of those with a little colour.
In the US the potato has traditionally been used to treat burns and frostbite. Health nuts recommend it raw and grated before breakfast to keep the arteries clear.
The preparation and storage of potatoes are the only areas of this vegetable's life that might arouse controversy.
In earlier articles I've pointed out that storing them away from light is important, yet supermarkets clean potatoes off, put them in plastic bags and shelve them under strong artificial light, all bad for potato toxicity.
It is the preparation though that requires unusual restraint and an innovative frame of mind.
Kliment recommends gradually cooking them less, so that they are at least al dente.
Al dente, to the teeth, or in a condition where a food still has a bit of snap, is the fashionable way to cook pasta but we demur slightly when confronted with the possibility of treating the national dish with continental delicacy. Potatoes are best the nearer they are to raw but people don't like them that way.
I put this to the test anyway at a recent Confirmation party, setting a cassoulet of Roscarberry Recipe sausage, bacon, haricot beans and semi-raw potatoes, alongside a Malaysian green vegetable and coconut stew and an Indian bean curry.
Some of Cork's finest turned up to taste.
Sadly the Indian and Malaysian dishes won out, the guests too polite to mention the spuds were not properly cooked.
I on the other hand enjoyed them the next day, because they are an ideal lunch to repair the excesses of a party.
I'm a convert. So the next time you see me jogging for the train at Heuston station don't be afraid to ask: "Is that a potato in your pocket or"
Haydn Shaughnessy is a part-time cook and food writer with a special interest in the science of food.