When it comes to the potato, Feng Xiaoyan gets rhapsodic. “Potatoes are tasty, the flavor is fresh. The more you eat them, the more they’re on your mind,” Ms. Feng has crooned on Chinese television. She has commissioned several songs extolling the potato, including “Potato, Potato, Potato” and “Our Potato, Little Round Potato.”
The 51-year-old potato farmer-turned-entrepreneur is on a mission to turn the potato into a culinary staple in China, where rice and noodles have ruled for millennia. She picked up a powerful ally this year. The government announced that it wants to turn the New World spud into a key part of the diet for the country’s 1.3 billion population.
The push is in part environmental: The country’s land is badly parched, and crops like rice and wheat are far more water-intensive than the low-maintenance potato. Food security is also a consideration, with corn, wheat and rice imports having soared in recent years.
“We are in the middle of a potato revolution,” says Ms. Feng, who personally consumes two to three daily.
While the Middle Kingdom may be the world’s largest potato producer, for years, its potato lovers have been a minority faction. Here, the spud has traditionally been viewed as a poor man’s food—something to be subsisted on in times of famine, fed to hogs or thrown into simple stir-fries.
Potatoes are commonly used in Chinese cuisine, just not as a staple. In the northeast, the “earth’s three delicacies,” a deep-fried medley of potato, eggplant and green pepper, is a popular dish. The potato—thought to have made its debut in China 400 years ago in the Ming dynasty and whose name in Chinese translates to “earth bean”—is also often julienned, stir-fried and served slightly al dente.
