Potatoes: Once an Unpopular Vegetable
Potatoes Come to Europe
Thousands of years ago, potatoes were first ____ by people in the Andes mountains region.
When Spanish people took ____ this region in the 16th century, they first learned about potatoes.
They brought them to Europe because they were a ____ food source.
However, potatoes were ____ welcomed at first.
____ did not try to grow and eat them because they looked strange.
They also ____ potatoes brought diseases, so they gave them to pigs.
The Potato King
A great food shortage ____ in Prussia in 1744.
People did ____ have enough food to eat.
Frederick the Great wanted his people to grow and ____ potatoes.
He planted a large ____ of potatoes, but nobody was interested.
The king did ____ give up, and he came up with an idea.
He named potatoes a ____ vegetable and ordered his soldiers to guard the potato field.
This made people curious, and ____ even tried to steal potatoes at night.
Soon, ____ and more people started to grow and eat potatoes.
Potato Flowers, a Royal Fashion
When potatoes were first introduced in ____, French people did not like them as well.
Because France also had food shortages, one government ____ told King Louis XVI about the successful case in Prussia.
He ____ the king to wear potato flowers on his jacket.
The king ____ his advice, and the queen also wore some in her hair.
People started to follow this royal ____.
As a ____, people began to like potatoes and started to grow and eat them.
Thanks to such efforts, potatoes were finally ____ in Europe and began to spread worldwide.
They have now become one of the ____ popular vegetables in the world.