Potatoes: Food tourism and beyond

Abstract Food tourism includes various activities and attractions linked to food. Potatoes can also be also linked to tourism, or food tourism as testified by special Victorian Potato Industry Tour organized in and around Melbourne, Australia or Rural Community Tourism in the Potato Park; a tour around Cusco, Peru; various culinary events dedicated to potatoes in Slovenia and many others. This paper contributes to the knowledge on tourism and specifically food tourism by proposing to “open” a new niche of research based on specific foods or their ingredients, which up to now seems to have touched only a very few specific foods (or drinks) and associated ingredients—for instance, the case of grape/wine is exemplar. However, many other specific foods or ingredients could be singularly one-by-one) researched to examine their role in tourism. This paper discusses the role in tourism/food tourism of a “humble tuber”, the potato. This is a desktop research which draws on previous literature, organizational and institutional documents and information and data, such as the list of museums around the world. The aim is to analyse the knowledge from various disciplines linking the potato to tourism to understand the various ways in which it can directly or indirectly have a role in tourism. The article presents the potato including its (social) history, gastronomy in relation to tourism/food tourism. The article argues that the potato should be promoted given its various uses and universality of application as a food and as an ingredient.


Introduction
Potato! "The humble potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the world's most important vegetable . . . ." (Craig, 2016, p. 21). This "humble tuber" from the Andes has spread across the world, changing world history (Pandey, S. 2008. Foreword. In Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Ed.), International year of the potato, 2008:V). The potato is now "ranked as the third most important food crop following rice and wheat and is consumed by over a billion people throughout the world" (Degebasa, 2020, p. 1). In 2019, the world production of potatoes reached 371 million tonnes, increasing by 2.1% from 2018. The increase between 2007 and 2019 was an average annual rate of 1.6%, with future growth prospects (Potato News Today, 2020: online). For example, in the European continent during the 19th century, the potato was one of the most popular crops. While the production has declined, it still retains a third place on the continent in terms of total production (Wasilewska-Nascimento et al., 2020, p. 1). Its consumption has changed from fresh to processed potato products (Wasilewska-Nascimento et al., 2020, p. 1). Over time, various foods have attracted the interests of tourism creating the notion of food tourism.
Horng & Tsai (as cited in Ellis et al., 2018) observe that various terms are used to describe food tourism, such as "culinary tourism", "tasting tourism", "food and wine tourism", "gourmet tourism", and "gastronomic tourism". While some studies have looked at halal foods, food tendencies, local food trends, impacts of healthy eating, vegetarianism including food choices by religion, etc, food and gastronomy are taken as an interesting area of research with a growing trend (Okumus et al., 2018). Hall (as cited in Ellis et al., 2018, p. 1) opines that food tourism is "visitation to primary and secondary food producers, food festivals, restaurants and specific locations for which food tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of specialist food production regions are the primary motivating factor for travel". According to Horng and Tsai (2010), "culinary tourism" is about experiencing food activities and culture through individual involvement, while Hegarty and O'Mahony (as cited in Ellis et al., 2018) describe "gastronomy" as situating food in a culture and lifestyle of a community. Therefore, food tourism may involve any experience related to a destination's culinary landscape, including site visits to where food is produced and prepared, cooking lessons, and participation in food-related (or potato-related) events, as in this case.
Food tourism is growing, and UNWTO (2012, p. 5) noted that it "has grown considerably and has become one of the most dynamic and creative segments of tourism." This type of tourism is expected to create jobs, spur economic activity, globalize food and cultures, and create "culture vultures" through digital transformations (Okumus, 2021). However, food tourism also carries its negative effects, such as food waste, including sustainability and other environmental matters, that should be acknowledged by tourism stakeholders (Okumus, 2021: no page). Other issues related to food are hunger, starvation, food (un)affordability, (in)adequate nutrition, (in)accessibility of food, food (in)adequacy, and food (in)security afflicting millions of people around the world, outside the fanfare of food tourism.
Food tourism or gastronomy tourism has been described "as the travels made for the purchasing, consumption, experience of local foods (including beverage) or learning how to cook or observing the food production" (Sert, 2019(Sert, , p. 1611). An array of terms has been "interchangeably used to refer to food tourism, including culinary tourism, gourmet tourism, and gastronomic tourism" (Okumus, 2020: no page). Thus, even if there are various terms such as "culinary tourism", "gastronomy tourism", "gastro-tourism", "food tourism", and "gourmet tourism," "the underline meaning of all those terms are the same" (Guruge, 2020, p. 319; see also, Zhang et al., 2019, p. 2) (This article will also use these terms interchangeably). Food tourism "offers tourists new tastes, flavors, textures, cultures, heritage, local culinary cultures, customs, and authentic food and beverage experiences" (Okumus, 2020, no page). It can include "regional food culture, regional cuisine, restaurants, food festivals, events, tours, cooking courses, etc. related activities and experience" (Sert, 2019(Sert, , p. 1611. Food tourism is concerned with activities that centre around food for leisure and relaxation in which sombre activities, such as hunger and starvation, are ordinarily not part of the experience. For Ellis et al. (2018, p. 261), food tourism is about "the interactions of tourists with place through the medium of food." Potatoes can also be linked to tourism, or food tourism, as testified by a special Victorian Potato Industry Tour organized in and around Melbourne, Australia (Sebright Adventures, 2018: online) or Rural Community Tourism in the Potato Park a full day-with daily departure offertour around Cusco, Peru (Inkayni Peru Tours, no date, online). In Slovenia, they have various "culinary events dedicated to potatoes," such as the one in Dobova that is dedicated to roasted potatoes (Kuˇznik & Rangus, 2020, p. 59). A CBI (2018: online) on the opportunities for culinary tourism in Europe indicates that the country of Peru is one amongst those competitor countries outside Europe in terms of food tourism. The same report mentions that: "Peru has won the title of World's Leading Culinary Destination for 2012-2017. The country is famous for its food, like ceviche, quinoa, and potatoes. But also for its drinks, such as Pisco, the Peruvian national drink." It is evident that potatoes are a quintessential part of the equation in food tourism.
Based on the above, this article makes a contribution to the literature on tourism and specifically food tourism by "opening" a new niche of research based on specific foods or ingredients, which up to now has covered only very few specific foods (or drinks) and associated ingredients-the case of grape/wine is an exemplar. However, many other specific foods/ingredients could be singularly researched to examine their role in tourism, specifically in food tourism. This article presents the role in tourism/food tourism of a "humble tuber," the potato.

Methodology
This paper constitutes a review article aiming to "synthesize the literature in the field, without collecting or analyzing any primary data" (Green as cited in Paré & Kitsiou, 2017). It takes the form of a narrative review. For Paré and Kitsiou (2017), a narrative review is flexible because it gives the researcher the leeway to search, identify and choose the articles to be analyzed, determine their selection criteria, and justify their relevance for inclusion in the sample for analysis. They further emphasize that there must be alignment between the research goal and the methods used. For this article, the researchers identified and selected articles that resonated with the topic of the potato and its historicity. It is common cause that building "research on and relating it to existing knowledge is the building block of all academic research activities, regardless of discipline" (Snyder, 2019, p. 333). Knowledge builds on existing knowledge. In conceptual research in tourism, it has been indicated that "conceptual research may build upon previous concepts that are themselves generated from empirical data collection." (Xin et al., 2013, p. 70). Concepts lead to new concepts through new conceptualisations.
This article is desktop research based on previous literature, organizational and institutional documents, and information and data, such as the list of museums around the world extrapolated from the internet. The article is interdisciplinary at its core and thus draws on knowledge derived from various disciplines. It collected knowledge from various disciplines linking the potato to tourism to understand how potatoes can directly or indirectly play a role in tourism, specifically food tourism. Therefore, the article presents data about potatoes, including history and social history, gastronomy, and tourism and food tourism. As a conceptual paper based on an interdisciplinary literature review, this article can "help to provide an overview of areas in which the research is disparate and interdisciplinary" (Snyder, 2019, p. 333).

Food tourism
Food is always more recognized as a destination attraction (Mnguni & Giampiccoli, 2019a, p. 1). The food experience is a route to discover the culture and traditions of a destination (Lai et al., 2018, p. 579). Food tourism focuses on food as an attraction as well as a tourism destination (Long, 2013, p. 1). While the "eating" (dining) experience can be central to food tourism, the array of possible activities linked to food tourism goes well beyond "just eating" and food tourism itself. Food/gastronomy tourism is about food and drink as central to the tourist experience, but also includes culture, ethical and sustainable values of the communities, their history, territory, the sea, their landscape, and heritage (UNWTO, 2012, p. 14). In other words, food tourism encompasses the traditions and cultures of territories, it is how the food is produced, prepared, served and consumed; and by occasion/ceremony and time of the year.
Two main approaches to food tourism have been proposed. In the first case, food tourism is taken as an attraction where tourists dine, wine, and taste; hence it is called gastronomy tourism (or culinary tourism or gourmet tourism); in the second approach, tourists are interested in how food is locally grown and produced, and experiencing local taste. (Sert, 2019(Sert, , p. 1612. Both approaches imply a link to a specific destination. In its expanded conceptualization, food tourism includes activities such as "culinary trails, cooking classes, restaurants, farm weekends, cookbooks, food guides, and new or adapted recipes, dishes, and even ingredients" (Long, 2013, p. 1). Minasse (2020, p. 96) lists the following ten gastronomic tourism related attractions identified in the literature: workshops and training activities, tastings and pairings, food and beverage services, places of trade, gastronomic events, street markets, food fairs, and street food, places of production, food museums, traditional food and beverages, and tourist routes, itineraries, and trails. As such, food tourism extends beyond the word "tourism" to include all aspects directly or indirectly related to the food experience and the production of food. So food production and preparation are part and parcel of food tourism. By extension, this includes food packaging, distribution, marketing, and exportation. Therefore, although culinary tourism usually focuses on dining and tasting food, it also plays an educational role in teaching about the cuisine and culture of communities involved in its production and preparation and how tourists access these foods, and how they can contribute to sustainability (Long, 2013, p. 1). Gastronomic tourists use their sensory capabilities to experience different flavors they also engage with the social, cultural, environmental, and economic history of communities in which these experiences are gathered. (Jiménez-Beltrán et al., 2016, p. 10). In addition, gastronomic tourism involves experimentation, understanding new products, learning from different communities, obtaining knowledge and understanding of culinary specialties and tourism foods and goods produced in those destinations. (Herrera et al., 2012, p. 6).
Research on the relationship between local food and tourism has been carried out from various perspectives, such as the interaction between local food and local identity, food markets as a tourism attraction; the promotion of indigenous foods to overseas tourists (see, Mnguni & Giampiccoli, 2019a, p. 3). Food tourism has its subcategories such as beverage tourism including "wine, brewing coffee, tea, and whiskey tourism, as their specializations" (Minasse, 2020, p. 95). Gastronomic tourism has its sub-types which are related to specific food or ingredients. Therefore, there are "offerings related to food products such as oil, ham, cheese, meat, fish, fruit, truffles, or chocolate, or beverages such as wine, beer, whisky, cider, cognac, cava, horchata, sake, or tea (Herrera et al., 2012, p. 7). This indicates that each specific ingredient can be raison d'etre of a food tourism journey and experience. For example, a study investigated a single tree, Palmyra Palm, as a food tourism attraction (see, Vorasiha, 2019) and revealed its multiple uses "from the fruit, wooden products, roots and leaves, and as a source of food and tourism value" good for ecotourism and agritourism by visiting Palmyra plantations and learning about how to collect the nectar (Vorasiha, 2019, p. 10). (Vorasiha, 2019, p. 11).
For Sita et al. (2021), Indonesia is both a tea-producing and tea-consuming country where tourists experience local tea cultures and traditions and tea-related services and attractions with chances to improve community livelihoods. Tea tourism, therefore, involves the history of tea in the destination, visitations to tea plantations or factories, learning about its production processes, packaging and marketing, and different varieties. Conversely, wine tourism involves visiting wineries, tasting, and lessons about its history and production, packaging, and its sales and marketing, including tours and learning lessons. Similarly, potato tourism involves learning about the history of the tuber, and its varieties, visitations to potato farms, places with cultural and historical linkages to the potato, and tours and festivals related to potatoes. In this context, this article investigates the relationship between potatoes, food tourism, and aspects beyond food tourism.

The potato
Potato is "the third most important food crop, and has remained so for at least 190 years" (Spooner et al., 2014, p. 283). The tuber is grown in over 100 countries, in tropical, subtropical, and temperate conditions (FAO,no date:19), and it "can grow from sea level up to 4,700 meters above sea level; from southern Chile to Greenland" (CIP, 2020). The potato came from South America, as it "was domesticated 7,000 years ago by the ancestors of Peruvian peasant farmers on the shores of Lake Titicaca, between modern-day Peru and Bolivia" (Collyns, 2019:online). While it was thought that the potato was independently domesticated in multiple locations, current genetic testing "proved a single origin for potatoes in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia where they were domesticated approximately 7,000-10,000 years ago" (Datta, 2020, p. 49). Since its domestication and especially following the age of European discoveries, the potato has spread around the world. It is "believed that potatoes entered Africa in 1567 and consumed them as a vegetable rather than a staple starch. The potato diffused widely after 1600, becoming a major food resource in Europe and East Asia, and was introduced into China towards the end of the Ming dynasty. In India, the Portuguese introduced potatoes called 'Batata" (Datta, 2020, p. 50).
Potato has a production exceeding 300 million metric tons and is eaten by more than a billion people worldwide (CIP, 2020). Currently,82% of global cultivation of potatoes takes place in Eurasia" (Gutaker et al., 2019(Gutaker et al., , p. 1093). There are more than 4,000 varieties of native potatoes of many sizes and shapes primarily found in the Andes, and there are also more than 180 wild potato species (CIP, 2020). It has been noted that more than 99% of the present cultivated worldwide are from south-central Chile, which has displaced varieties originating from the Andes (Datta, 2020, p. 49). In addition, "what we know as "the potato" (Solanum species tuberosum) contains just a fragment of the genetic diversity found in the four recognized potato species and 5 000 potato varieties still grown in the Andes" (FAO, no date:14). The potato is vegetatively propagated, that is, a potato can grow from another potato or piece of it (the "seed"), the new potato "will be a genetic clone of the mother seed plant, whereas if new tubers are grown from seeds from potato flowers, these new tubers will be genetically different from the mother plant" (CIP, 2020).
Curiously, potato, fresh potato is gaining popularity as a consequence of COVID-19. The virus "is driving demand for fresh potato in supermarkets and grocery stores across the globe as people stock up on inexpensive food. Fresh potato has become a favourite during the lockdown, along with rice, wheat flour, bread and pasta" (CIP (International Potato Center), 2020: online). In the western world, "where processed products constitute the bulk of potato consumption, demand for fresh potatoes has skyrocketed. The lockdown has also increased demand for fresh potatoes in the developing world" also in non-potato-consuming areas such as southern states of India" (CIP (International Potato Center), 2020: online). It is noted that notwithstanding the potato's "significance as a staple for so many poor, it is rarely mentioned in the same breath as rice and wheat when assessing food security" (CIP (International Potato Center), 2020: online).
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recommended the potato "as a food security crop" because the world is facing uncertainties in the food supply, increasing hunger rates, against a backdrop of increasing demand for food (Devaux et al., 2014, p. 185). However, the potato is for both the poor and the rich as a staple food for the poor and a cash crop in high-value markets for the rich. (Devaux et al., 2014, p. 197).
The potato contributes to a diet with fundamental nutrients such as vitamin C, potassium, and fibres as "potatoes have a more favorable overall nutrient-to-price ratio than many other vegetables and are an important staple worldwide" (Beals, 2019, p. 102). A potato of medium-size has enough potassium and about half the daily requirement of vitamin C of an adult and contains B vitamins, and minerals such as magnesium and phosphorus(FAO, no date:14) and can naturally resist diseases, pests and adverse climatic conditions" (CIP, 2020).

Potatoes in history
The history of potatoes is closely linked to the history of people from the beginning when the dissemination "of the potato from the Andes to the rest of the globe reads like an adventure story, but it began with a tragedy. The Spanish conquest of Peru between 1532 and 1572 destroyed the Inca civilization and caused the deaths-from war, disease and despair-of at least half the population" (FAO, no date:16). Thus, the potato "from the South American Andes spread globally during post-Columbian times" and its establishment in the European continent represent a milestone in its geographical spread (Gutaker et al., 2019(Gutaker et al., , p. 1093. By the year 1573 the potato was cultivated in Spain and then "from the Spanish court to the Pope in Rome; from Rome to the papal ambassador in Mons; and from there to a botanist in Vienna. Potatoes were grown in London in 1597 and reached France and the Netherlands soon after" (FAO, no date:14; see also, Gutaker et al., 2019 about the geographical spread of Potato). It was introduced into Ireland to become its main staple crop by the middle of the nineteenth century (Gutaker et al., 2019(Gutaker et al., , p. 1093. Two factors constrained the spread of potatoes in Europe: consumer choice and environmental conditions compared to its original habit (Gutaker et al., 2019(Gutaker et al., , p. 1093. Thus "once the plant had been added to botanical gardens and herbalists' encyclopedias, interest waned" as European aristocracy admired only the flowers of the potato and the tubers "were considered fit only for pigs and the destitute" and peasants believed potatoes were poisonous (FAO, no date:14). However, potatoes continued to spread and thanks to the sailors who took tubers to consume on their marine voyages, it reached India, China, and Japan in the early 17th century (FAO, no date:14). After hesitation, European farmers including Russia started to grow potatoes extensively by 1815 the potato "had become a staple crop across northern Europe" (FAO, no date:17). Fundamentally for much of the history of the potato (and the history of people), "The potato also received an unusually warm welcome in Ireland, where it proved suited to the cool air and moist soils. Irish immigrants took the tuber-and the name, 'Irish potato'-to North America in the early 1700s" (FAO, no date:14). The 19th century saw an increase in potato consumption which "is credited with helping to reduce the scourge of diseases such as scurvy and measles, contributing to higher birth rates and the population explosion in Europe, the United States and the British Empire" (FAO, no date:17).
However, the potato has its high and low points in human history, from the tragically and notorious famous Irish famine that "is often described as the "potato famine"" (Ó Gráda, 1996, p. 89) to the less famous event such as the mine war in the Appalachia (United States) where redneck miners were together with black miners fighting the exploitation of the mining companies. Historians note that it is "impossible to exaggerate the significance of the [Irish] famine of 1846-1847" that was a direct consequence of potato failure (Salaman, 1985, p. 317), and it is important to note its fundamental importance in history well beyond Ireland (such as in the United States of America).
The relationship of the potato with the mine war is indirect but conceivably still relevant. The "mine war" in Appalachia was waged by "proud rednecks" who adorned red scarves to political rallies and in the Appalachia region, "United Mine Workers of America (UMW) and rival miners' unions appropriated both the term redneck and its literal manifestation, the red bandana, in order to build multiracial unions of white, black, and immigrant miners in the strike ridden coalfields of northern and central Appalachia between 1912 and 1936" (Huber, 2006, p. 195). The multiracial coal miners in Appalachia wore red bandanas to indicate their support for unionizing (Young, 2020: online; see Huber,200). The mine war in Appalachia included the Battle for Blair Mountain, that "was the second largest civil uprising in U.S. history second only to the civil war" (Marley & fox, 2014, p. 267). A miners' war' against injustice that the 2019 book of Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hamby (Hamby, 2019) shows is still part of our times. What about potatoes? The potatoes were contributing to keeping the miners and their families alive. At that time, children attending school packed lunch that included the motto, "Our potatoes the same way"-also showing that even before the strike, miners and their families were struggling to feed and nourish themselves with the bit of money they received as wages (Gourley, 2019, p. 109). Mining companies permitted the miners to have gardens where the "most common vegetables grown were beans, potatoes, and tomatoes," and if anyone could grow "more potatoes and stuff: they would share it" (Whitley, 2016, p. 58). Again, in the 1950s, miners filed "into the Eastern company store to pocket a little mound of scrip, most of which he'd hand right back to pay for pinto beans, potatoes, rent, coal for home-heating, and any replacement mining gear he needed" (Guilford, 2017: online). West Virginia dinner of coal miners was composed of, "pinto beans, coleslaw, fried potatoes and cornbread" (Ally's Kitchen, online). The potato was key also in the British miners' strike of 1984-1985 when a testimony indicated that they were living "on potatoes mainly, and potatoes as a staple diet isn't really good" (BBC, no date: online).
Besides the exceptional and tragic relevance of the potato in Ireland and the various historical events around the world where the potato has been somehow part of it, potatoes are still, in various ways, important in many countries. In Poland, for example, the country has for years "been the leader of the top potato producers in Europe" (Kowalska & Gurkowa, 2019:46). Poland has a National Potato Day; potatoes were introduced by King Jan III Sobieski and popularized by Paweł Wienczarek, a gardener at the Wilanów Palace grounds and his son in law who "popularized potato-growing in Warsaw" (Kasprzyk-Chevriaux, 2020: Online; Kowalska & Gurkowa, 2019:46). However, the Polish, as happened in many other countries, showed disgust for potatoes thinking that they were harmful to human health (Kasprzyk-Chevriaux, 2020: Online). However, potatoes in Poland have become important at the current time. Thus, when a book on 500 potato recipes was translated from Belarusian and published in Poland, the relevance "of potatoes in the cuisine of the USSR and other Eastern Bloc countries" was highlighted (Kasprzyk-Chevriaux, 2020:Online). Now, "thirty years after the fall of communism, the potato is regaining its prominent place in Polish cuisine, and its different varieties are sought out by Polish chefs. Over 120 varieties of potato are currently grown in Poland, but still, there is little knowledge about the vegetable, even though using the right variety for any given dish will result in a more refined culinary experience" (Kasprzyk-Chevriaux, 2020: Online). It is, therefore, "not surprising then that in the Polish tradition, it is difficult to imagine a real dinner without potato" (Kowalska & Gurkowa, 2019:46).
In Peru and Bolivia, where potatoes originated, their importance goes beyond food. For example, in Peru, the heritage of potatoes is now recognized and protected. This led to the affordance of special value to traditional foods and their exportation, restoring their lost prestige, which resulted in the revival of local economies (Jacoby & Murillo, 2012, p. 358). In this context, while a huge quantity of potatoes is processed and eaten as French fries (chips) or chips (crisps)-these are from a few varieties ideal for processing out of more than 3,000 varieties of potato in Peru (Jacoby & Murillo, 2012, p. 361).
It is also important to note that, besides human consumption, potatoes have many other uses, such as in "pharmaceutical, textile, wood and paper industries as an adhesive, binder, texture agent and filler, and by oil drilling firms to wash boreholes. Potato starch is a 100% biodegradable substitute for polystyrene and other plastics and used, for example, in disposable plates, dishes, and knives" (see FAO, no date:24). Potatoes were also used in Europe as farm animal feed such that in the Russian Federation and other East European countries, about half of the potato harvest is still used as animal feed (see FAO, no date:24).
From a global perspective, potatoes are a key item in the new fast-food chain business, and the making of frozen French fries by a Canadian company both started in 1957 (see FAO, no date:18). Both of these events are linked to potatoes potentially the main contributors to the change in food habits of hundreds of millions of people around the world. This introduces us to the role of potatoes in the kitchen.

Potatoes in the kitchen
The thing that has made the potato so important around the world is both its nutritional value and versatility in the kitchen, making them "the world's most popular vegetable" and welcomed vegetable in cuisines of many countries around the world (FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2008. International year of the potato, 2008, p. 25). In the current times, potatoes can be used in a variety of dishes of food (Datta, 2020, p. 50). In Peru, "a potato salad may include three or four different types" (FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2008. International year of the potato, 2008, p. 25). Potatoes can be used in a variety of recipes and can be cooked in different ways. They can be "used in curries in India and pasta in Italy, stewed with bananas in Costa Rica, baked with rice in Iran, stuffed with liver in Belarus, stir-fried with green beans in Ethiopia, and simmered with smoked haddock in winter soups in Finland" (FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2008.
International year of the potato, 2008, p. 25). In addition, potatoes can give soups a creamy density, providing a delicate taste that highlights other ingredients. Other potatoes are great when baked, served as a simple snack or with a filling as a complete meal. Roast potatoes -crisp and golden outside and fluffy inside -are the perfect accompaniment to roast meat. Smooth, creamy, mashed potato is said to be the "ultimate comfort food", while "new" potatoes, steamed or boiled, are considered a special delicacy (FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2008. International year of the potato, 2008, p. 25).
A Professional cookbook on the potato begins by stating that in "classic cuisine, the potato is one of the most important of all foods" (Gisslen, 2011, p. 604). For many of us, potatoes are just a humble, starchy, and ordinary food, however, Chef Escoffier-regarded as the father of 20th cookery-"treated the potato with great respect" (Gisslen, 2011, p. 604). Almost everybody eats potatoes. It is estimated that more than 60% of the 320 million tonnes of potatoes harvested in 2005 were consumed by people as food in different forms (FAO, no date:23). While globally, the consumption of the potato as a food is moving to added value, processed products from fresh potatoes, (FAO, no date:23) fresh potatoes are still widely eaten and, as a matter of fact, fresh potato, is gaining popularity as a consequence of COVID-19 (CIP (International Potato Center), 2020: online). Fresh potatoes can be "baked, boiled or fried and used in an astonishing range of recipes: mashed potatoes, potato pancakes, potato dumplings, twice-baked potatoes, potato soup, potato salad, and potatoes au gratin, to name a few" (FAO, no date:23) and there are also famous potatoes dishes or way of cooking or utilising the potato such as potato au gratin, French fries, potato salad or potato croquettes to name just a few. Potatoes can be prepared in ways. Here are some typical examples: • Steamed potatoes: for this potato dish, you blanch the potatoes, braise the vegetables, deglaze with bouillon, add potatoes, and cook them until done. Only a small amount of liquid should remain. Chopped parsley is then sprinkled over the potatoes; • Maitre D'Hotel: these are sliced blanched, boiled in little milk with salt, pepper, nutmeg, cream, butter and chopped parsley to be added; • Provençale: potatoes are sliced, blanched, fried and mixed with breadcrumbs, garlic and parsley; • Boulangere: these potatoes are sliced, half-fried, plenty sliced onions added, finished off with frying; • Berny: croquette mixture with chopped truffle, apricot shaped, dipped in egg and chopped almonds then fried; • Byron: potatoes are baked, peeled, chopped with butter added, fried in tiny skillets, turned out, covered with cream, sprinkled with parmesan, gratinated; • Dauphinoise: potatoes are sliced raw, blanched, placed in a buttered dish, rubbed with garlic, seasoned, moistened with milk mixed with eggs, sprinkled with cheese, gratined • Williams: this is a croquette mixture which is pear shaped, crumbed and fried.
It is mentioned in a Polish case study that the potato is a common food that is underestimated (Kowalska & Gurkowa, 2019:46). In Poland, for example, "it is difficult to imagine a real dinner without potato. Cooked, served with butter or dill, mashed, roasted, in the form of purees, fries, chips, or boiled and served with cottage cheese, and also processed into the feed-there are many ways of using them, and all considered equally valuable" (Kowalska & Gurkowa, 2019:46). Changing times and food habits, however, have not altered the role of potato, hence it remains part of the Polish cuisine (Kowalska & Gurkowa, 2019:46). As already mentioned above a Polish (originally Belarusian) book has 500 Potato Dishes (Kasprzyk-Chevriaux, 2020: Online) certainly showing the versatility of this vegetable, its multiple uses, adaptability, and the diversity of options it provides.
Currently, there are numerous varieties of potatoes that were not known long ago, but chefs experiment with food and navigate new uses for them (Gisslen, 2011, p. 604). However, in proportion to the thousands of known potato varieties, only a few are normally used worldwide. It is important to recognize the culinary value (and other values such as biodiversity, community development, pride, and so on) of the wide potato varieties-the case of Peru is emblematic.
In 2010, leading Peruvian chefs and food writers took their commitment to defend national biodiversity further, and campaigned for a ten-year ban on the introduction of genetically modified crops. When the debate among legislators became open to public discussion, the Peruvian Association of Gastronomy pushed harder for the ban, which became law in 2011. Peruvian food culture now is an astonishing rich mixture of food systems. These combine the ancient traditions of the original people with those that have come from Europe, Africa and Asia. It would be a mistake to think that what is happening in Peru is merely an attraction for rich people and tourists. The Peruvian food movement is truly national" (Jacoby & Murillo, 2012, p. 360).
In Peru, a potato salad may have between three to four different types (FAO, no date:25). Thus, the vast acceptance and recognition of the wide potato varieties are a result of Peruvian chefs and food writers, who have expanded national attention beyond the three common varieties of potatoes available in most supermarkets, to hundreds of varieties that small-scale farmers in the Southern Andes produce. (Jacoby & Murillo, 2012, p. 361).

Potatoes, food tourism and beyond 4.0.3. Potato tours
There is no doubt that potatoes are relevant in the culinary setting and also economically and socially in many parts of the world. Although they are not part of mainstream tourism in specific cases, such as in Peru and Ireland, potatoes can become and are a tourist attraction. This argument is based on the premise that the relationship between potatoes and tourism involves various aspects, such as culinary, cultural, history, agricultural aspects, and so on. Potato tourism aspects can be packaged into specific potato tours, such as those in Australia (see Sebright Adventures, 2018). The Victorian Potato Industry Tour (see Sebright Adventures, 2018) is linked to a specific conference that includes an eight-day tour with other attractions. It is fundamentally about potatoes (especially the potato industry and farming) as a special tourism interest, which has witnessed an expansion of research interest on the subject. Potato tours in Peru go well beyond the potato to several culinary aspects. An example of a potato tour in Peru reads as follows: Full-Day -Rural Community Tourism in the Potato Park The tour will delight you with its exquisite flavors and landscapes that you will find in our tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Five communities are responsible for providing the diversity of potatoes from different altitudes in a single site, among them are Sacca, Chawaytire, Pampallaqta, Paru Paru, and Amaru. They promote sustainable and ecological agriculture. A nice trip should not miss the opportunity to visit it to enjoy the different dishes and in its best versions, the cuisine based on potatoes.
You will visit beautiful lagoons; you will also observe the elaboration of textiles and craft workshops or medicinal plants. It is a tour that you cannot miss in your visit to the beautiful city of Cusco. You will be in the hands of professionals who will provide you with the best service during your stay in Cusco (Inkayni Peru Tours. No date).
Another "potato tour" in Peru specifically describes the visit to the Potato Park, mentions: Pisac Potato Park Tours Located in the Sacred Valley of Peru, encompasses nearly 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares) of high-altitude Andean land where local residents manage and conserve one of their most important agricultural resources: potatoes. Some 700 varieties of potatoes grow within the park, many of them endemic to the region. Six Quechua communities joined forces on the conservation project with the aim of eradicating hunger, promoting gender equality and ensuring environmental sustainability. Visitors to the Pisac Potato Park can choose between three-or five-day guided treks through the park, or a single-day visit which includes a hands-on tour of a potato farm, a meal made from a variety of local Peruvian potatoes and visits to some of the communities involved in the project. The park also offers a cooking class using local potato varieties (Viator, No date: online).
These examples of Peruvian Potato tours show the link between potatoes and tourism and the extensive link with local history, local agriculture, and culinary heritage, where issues related to local development and the environment (such as biodiversity) are all important.
Other types of tours linked to potatoes can be found in England. Swerling (2018) observes that "Any list of Britain's top tourist attractions would include Buckingham Palace, Stonehenge, and the Tower of London. However, now there is a new addition: a Yorkshire chippy on the side of a dual carriageway" (Swerling, 2018: online). The official visitor website for Yorkshire, England, shows a Fish & Chips Trail (see, Figure 1) using the tour to adversities fish & chips, the hospitality industry, and Yorkshire, by stating: Welcome to our Delicious Fish & Chip trail, which we hope will inspire you to take a culinary tour of some of the fish and chip shops and restaurants in the county. Fish and chips are one of our Great British institutions, whether eaten straight from the paper or from a plate, with mushy peas or a nice glass of wine, you can't beat a good portion of Yorkshire fish and chips. We believe there are some of the finest fish and chip restaurants and take-aways in the world right here in Yorkshire and while we couldn't fit them all in, we wanted to give visitors a taste of some of the best places for great fish and chips" (Welcome to Yorkshire, no date: online: on fish & Chips trails also see, Stalmirska, 2017).
The website (Welcome to Yorkshire, no date: online) then indicates 17 establishment such as pubs and restaurants that are part of the trail.
Thus, a fish and chip café on the A64 is popular with Chinese tourists who throng to Scott's Fish and Chips, located between York and Leeds (Swerling, 2018: online). The tourism potential value of Fish & Chips is acknowledged, and not by coincidence, the city of York (England) in 2019 established the National Fish and Chip Museum, which showcases a chip fryer from the 1920s heated by coal and staff in historic uniforms. (Laycock, 2019: online). One of the oldest recipes of Fish and Chips is found in a cookbook dated 1817 (Laycock, 2019: online). This shows how Fish and Chips are not just a "new" tourism attraction but belong to the history of England. Fish and chips are an attraction because they are part of the social and food history of the place, and when properly prepared, they are nice to eat.

Potatoes and history
The link between potatoes and history is certainly not just an English prerogative, but many countries highlight potatoes as important items of their territories and histories (and possibly beyond their territories). Ireland, known for the potato famine, of which the Potato was singled out as the "culprit" is a case in point. It is not surprising that there are at least two museums dedicated to the event, the National Famine Museum in Ireland (Strokestown Poatato Park, No date: online) and Ireland's Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University. This museum at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, United States, interprets the famine visually through art displays and has the world's most extensive collection of Great Hunger-related art(Quinnipiac, No date: online). The National Famine Museum website (Strokestown Poatato Park, No date: online) introduces the museum with a petition quote from that time-Cloonahee Petition, 22 August 1846-saying: "Our families are really and truly suffering in our presence, and we cannot much longer withstand their cries for food. We have no food for them, our potatoes are rotten, and we have no grain." From a tourism perspective, potato museums abound around the world. A search on the internet presents various Potato museums around the world. A list of other potato museums found in Europe and North America is presented in Table 1. Poland houses the Potato Museum of Poznań  (Zieliński, no date). In Poland, in the village Biesiekierz, West Pomeranian, there is also a Potato Monument, "probably the biggest in the world potato monument. It was created in honor of the new varieties of this plant, which was bred in a nearby potato farm in Biesiekierz" (myfavspot.info, no date: online). Another monument, Potato Shed Memorial, to potatoes is in Boston, Massachusetts, as a reminder of the local trade in potatoes, as explained "'millions and millions' of potatoes were off-loaded from the railways from Maine into the giant storage warehouses from the 1800s into the 1930s. Charlestown residents frequented the sheds to purchase (and, according to Miller, sometimes steal) their dinner supplies before they burned down in 1962. According to local lore, the fire resulted in the entire neighbourhood smelling like baked potatoes" (DeCosta-Klipa, 2017online).
Potato museums are related to agriculture (farming machinery, tools), such as the Potato Museum in Budrio, Italy, to one dedicated to chips, Frietmuseum in Bruges. Some museums, such as the Potato museum in Brussels, date back to 1975. It is also worth noting that the Canadian Potato Museum in O'Leary describes itself as "One of the Top 11 Food Museums in the World!" (https://www.canadianpotatomuseum.info/, 2020). In contrast, the Potato Museum in Peru takes another dimension by acknowledging the Tiwanaku museum La Paz, Bolivia, regarding its rich historical tradition of potatoes (Sapozhnikov, 2008, online).
The Peru Potato Museum or Potato Park (Parque de la Papa) links us to issues such as using the potato in the kitchen, biodiversity, community development, and tourism-related matters. For example, the Peruvian Parque de la Papa (also denominated Agri-park) mentions that: "the Agripark high in the Andes preserves the expertise to breed strains fit for a changing climate [. . .] With a climate changing faster than most crops can adapt and food security under threat around the world, scientists have found hope in a living museum dedicated to a staple eaten by millions daily: the humble potato" (Collyns, 2019: online). As such, in the interest of preserving the biodiversity of food, such as potatoes, the consumption of different varieties of potatoes should be enhanced and re-evaluated. In the Peruvian context, this issue seems to be advanced.

Potato varieties
While most potatoes that are consumed are processed (i.e., French fries or chips) or fresh, they come from a few varieties "it is reckoned that there remain up to 3,000 varieties of potato in Peru. This heritage of biodiversity is now increasingly guarded in Peru" (Jacoby & Murillo, 2012, p. 361; see, Figure 2). In Peru, chefs are re-evaluating potato varieties and using them in new creations, thus influencing other people to use them for community development, biodiversity, and so on.

Figure 2. A few examples of the more than 3000 varieties of Potatoes in Peru.
Source: Jacoby and Murillo (2012, p. 360) About 15 years ago, the International Potato Center (CIP) started working with top chefs and gastronomy schools in Peru to augment requests for native potatoes where with the excess of 3,000 potato varieties, "the country's native potato biodiversity is the largest in the world, yet farmers growing them often lived in poverty. The idea is to harness the power of gastronomy and influential chefs to shift perceptions about native potatoes, which were not valued as important foods and not well known in urban markets" (CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, 2019: online). Figure 2 shows examples of some varieties of potatoes from Peru.
Although some indigenous potato varieties with extraordinary "culinary traits or those that are noted for high yields have been traded in the southern Andes for centuries, and the marketing of native yellow potato varieties in Lima has gone on for over 60 years, the prospect of purchasing other, more exotic native potatoes (or products made from these tubers) not seen in major urban markets began to achieve increased attention beginning around 2000" (Scott, 2011, p. 31). The "cuisine is the point of intersection of biodiversity and society so that it can play a key role in the revalorization of Andean products and the creation of social value" (CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, 2019:online). Industrialized farming is endangering the cultural and diversity value of the potato, but innovative chefs are at the fore of changing the recipes (Wolff, 2020: online). Hence, transforming the potato into a tourist attraction.
Growing interest on the part of chefs in the New Andean cuisine combined with a resurgent gastronomic appeal of traditional food commodities produced in the highlands helped generate greater demand for native potatoes generally and the more unusual varieties in particular in major metropolitan markets. A combination of factors contributed to this phenomenon. Rising real incomes for the vast majority of Peruvian households made new and unusual foods more affordable for more consumers. A booming tourism trade meant foreign visitors, typically with ample disposable income, were arriving in Peru in part looking to try new dishes with exotic ingredients as one aspect of their experience abroad. (Scott, 2011, p. 31) 4.0.6. The Peruvian experience Steeped in the past, these chefs are transforming Peru into one of the world's top culinary and dining destinations (Wolff, 2020: online) and, as such, "Peru is riding the crest of a gastronomic boom that has been unfolding for the past two decades" (López-Canales, 2019:online). Thus, in Peru, indigenous potatoes varieties "became one of the star products in the new Novo Andino Cuisine, leading to a marked increase in demand for native potatoes in Peru with benefits for farmers through higher prices" (CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, 2019: online). Fundamentally, this transformation led to increased incomes in communities and the arrival of more tourists. "Farmers became proud of their produce" (Kawarazuka in CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, 2019: online). The link to local producers in the community and the "invention" of new products is all part of the picture. Peru used a Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA) that engages value chain actors, farmers, and supermarkets to market and promote innovations concerning a variety of new products, including colored chips sourced from native potatoes and sold to tourists, urban consumers, and some are exported to earn foreign currency. (Devaux in CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, 2019: online). However, the acceptance of the potato was not easy because the media valorized processed food and with changes in modern lifestyles and food habits, especially in the urban context.
Roots, tubers and bananas are often seen as "traditional" foods. Yet their colors and flavors vary, and they can be exciting gastronomic ingredients, as well as healthy functional foods. However, despite their many benefits, they tend to fall out of favor as people move to towns and diets change to "modern" and perhaps more convenient foods. Typically, traditional staple foods lack a spokesperson or voice, while industrially processed products are widely promoted through advertising campaigns. That lowers demand for traditional staples and can impact the livelihoods of smallholder growers who produce them (CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, 2019:online).
However, the debate about Peru's new culinary trends, the potato, and its link to the local community context is open. Matta (2013) observes that the debate rages on the re-emergence of indigenous foods and issues related to social class. Indigenous foods have been criticized for becoming elitist, as they are appropriated by the middle-upper urban classes involving local chefs who have failed to connect with local ancestral knowledge. (López-Canales, 2019: online). Therefore, while the new Peruvian cuisine brings visibility to foods linked to poverty and rurality, Novo-Andean [New-Andean] cuisine failed to transcend social barriers to hide cultural values found in Andean foodways and food. It represents an elite gastronomy movement that involves selecting some indigenous foods and ingredients to make a novel ethnic offering in the global market (Matta, 2013). This Peruvian cuisine has been developed by elite chefs for the new Andean experience, and "although they made more use of Peruvian food diversity, their primary goal was to conform to international standards, and not necessarily renew Peruvian cuisine [. . .] Chefs re-appropriated and re-signified food items within global discourses which reposed value to marginalized indigenous ingredients-but in doing so they displaced indigenous knowledge" (Matta, 2013). Peruvian elite chefs are accused of being ill-equipped to think outside the box in Peru's metropolitan centres, and for centuries were used to observing and defining instead of listening and understanding (López-Canales, 2019: online). A leading Peruvian Chef (Virgilio Martinez)'s restaurant (Mil Centro) is perched on a plateau at 11,500 feet above sea level has been noted that "any meaningful study of the [Mil Centro] restaurant's impact on the local communities' capacity for self-determination would need to consider the power distribution amongst all parties involved and, ultimately, base its findings on the level of agency afforded to the Quechua-speaking communities that have lived on the site for countless generations" (López-Canales, 2019:online).
It is important to understand that these linkages to the elite are visible in the tourism contextthus to international tourism-with consequences beyond it. Thus, in the biodiversity, sustainability, and community development spheres, it is noted that: In 2018, the UK-based group World Travel Awards named Peru World's Leading Culinary Destination for the seventh consecutive year. The closely watched World's 50 Best Restaurants list currently features three Lima establishments, all eagerly booked by a cosmopolitan clientele made up of Lima's emerging middle class along with a growing number of overseas gastro-tourists. In line with current global trends, these restaurants have been showcasing local ingredients and preparations, while voicing their commitment to sustainability, biodiversity, and raising the profile of Peru's small producers (López-Canales, 2019:online).
A variety of public, private, local, national, international actors are involved in the conservation of the biodiversity of Peru´s native potato varieties (Scott, 2011, p. 34). However, as Table 2 shows, famers and scientist seem not to be leading any gastronomic and tourism activities related to conservation of the biodiversity of the potato in Peru (See, Table 2 below). There is a need to move beyond elitism and to democratise indigenous foods so that disadvantaged groups who are the living repository of local food knowledge are the primary drivers of this transformation and revaluation (Mnguni & Giampiccoli, 2019a, p. 7). There is also a need to establish local linkages in tourism, between tourism and other sectors linked to tourism such as local community development, local agriculture (including the considerations of local traditions and environmental aspects such as biodiversity) and so on. The reality, however, is that that goal is still distant.

Potatoes and linkages
The linkages between tourism establishments and local agriculture also seem to show weaknesses. In Fiji, the relation to key vegetable products with potential for import substitution is noted as needing more links and awareness research to promote the potato in hotels. (International Finance Corporation, 2018, p. 20). Feasibility studies specifically focusing on the ability of local potatoes to compete with imported ones is also proposed in Fiji (International Finance Corporation, 2018, p. 22). However, as in the case of Fiji, "destination countries with a predominantly Western culture, seek standardised corporate resorts, which serve largely Western food, that includes an odd localised cultural experience buffet (Laeis, 2019:15). Thus, in Fiji the western "standardised" palate favour the import of internationally well-established vegetables such as potatoes against the local produce and favour the "europeanisation" of the natural environment in the south of the world where local agricultural species are marginalised to favour more international visitors (Laeis, 2019:15). It is argued that "this constitutes neo-colonisation through tourism. It speaks critically to the debate about the importance of biodiversity and agroecological approaches in food production and tourism. It also challenges a fundamental paradigm of sustainable tourism development: the integrity and self-determination of host communities" (Laeis, 2019:15). The case of Fiji is not isolated. For example, a study on the impact of tourism linkages in Zimbabwe mentions that amongst other solutions to decreasing leakages, the study notes that "Hoteliers can be encouraged to purchase foodstuffs such as potatoes, apples and other fruits which are produced locally" (Chirenje et al., 2013, p. 15).

Discussion
The potato has a rich history in the world. Its role has influenced many aspects of the history of humans, from food habits and consumption patterns around the world to allow the development of hundreds of dish recipes, from agricultural changes to social-economic development (and tragedy). The potato also touches the tourism sector and its connected aspects. The potato has become a possible tourist attraction. Museums dedicated to potatoes are numerous worldwide, potato tours are available to tourists in specific territories, and potato linkages are found in a wide array of social-historical events that make the potato an important tourism item in various contexts, for instance, the Irish famine.
From a culinary and tourist perspective, the core of this article is the potato which is now part of various culinary traditions or ingredients in many traditional or new recipes around the world, with a number of them becoming potential tourist attractions-the "historical" Fish & Chip is a case in point. The "discovery" of Fish and Chips as a potential tourist attraction indicates that the history of food, and especially of specific dishes/recipes, can have a local and international resonance that serves to develop new or enhance old territories and their attractions.
Beyond that, the Peruvian context shows how chefs can be strategic in transforming and reevaluating specific ingredients-in this case-the potato. The revival of the wide varieties of the potato for a long time completely ignored the large public, but it was guarded by local community members (often in a socially disadvantageous position compared to the mostly urban and middleupper class chefs) who are open to various limitations encumbering their ability to revive the potato and contribute to a democratization process which is focused and embedded in the pursuit of social and environmental justice for local people and the potato. Thus, in the Peruvian case, if no specific measures are facilitated and implemented, the potato will reinforce historical injustices instead of redressing them. The international tourism appeal of Peruvian cuisine has made Lima an international food tourism hotspot (thanks to potato varieties) that favor the establishment of new cuisines, and the emergence of "new" ingredients, within the international context (with associated risks). The further marginalization of local people and knowledge instead of their inclusion as a leading protagonist in the revival of the potato is a possible risk factor that needs to be avoided.
The potato's value in tourism, especially in food tourism, should be acknowledged. It can be argued that standardized potato products, such as in international fast food chains, work against the appreciation of potato varieties and food diversification. On the other side, the recognition of the potato and it's many (thousands) of varieties should be important and valuable when it is related to the maintenance, enhancement, and re-evaluation of potato varieties that go beyond just food, thus including social, economic, and environmental matters. The potato, and especially the reintroduction and re-evaluation of the thousands of potato varieties, should be promoted for culinary and tourism reasons, especially when these reasons, go beyond merely the culinary and tourism context. The importance of the potato goes beyond consumption-to culture and heritage, to livelihoods and development.

Conclusion
This article established the linkages between tourism and the potato, between tourism and agriculture, and between the potato and the tourist tours. It provided the history of the potato from the Andes to Europe and its spread to the rest of the world. The potato has assumed the role of a staple food in many countries. Its capture by elite chefs has marginalized local communities who have been sidelined in its transformation and re-evaluation, which has led to the neglect of the public in debates about it.
The article explained the role of the potato during the war and how it was blamed for the Irish famine. The article also showed the multiple benefits of the potato, such as its pharmaceutical and nutritional aspects and its uses in textile and wood industries and as an animal feed in agriculture. It showed that the potato could be used for community development and income generation in communities. Some of the limitations of this article include constraints to generalization because the article is based on desktop research. As such, the credibility and trustworthiness of the provided information rely on the quality of the original data. Credible sources, which are readily available publicly, were utilized during the compilation of this article. The implications for policy and practice are: as in Peru, since the potato has received national recognition and protection as a heritage, this recognition and protection is possible in other countries where the potato is farmed. Events performed in other countries presented in this article can inform and guide tourism policies concerning the design of tours and travel packages around the potato. The growth and proliferation of the potato can help inform and change food habits, the expansion of potato varieties and products, and the emergence and valorization of other indigenous foods with the potential to create and strengthen the linkages between rural development, tourism, agriculture, and local economic development. Potatoes have multiple uses, which can be harnessed to drive rural development as an adhesive and filler in various industries.
In contrast, potato starch can be used in the manufacture of disposable cooking utensils by small enterprises. The combination of the potato and tourism opens up vistas for community development and overall local economic development. In conclusion, while this study looked at primarily European and Latin American experiences, further research could explore, for example, the role of the potato in tourism on the African continent.