Food culture in Two's home

Food Culture in Two's home - Irish Potatoes 

Grandma Mary Lou [Mary Louise Brown (1921-2013)] remembered walking to school with a hot baked potato in her pocket, on cold days.  The school children could keep their food warm at the wood stove in the classroom.  

Mary and Betty Brown, sisters, Hannan West Virginia abt 1932 

Potatoes are still a small crop in West Virginia all these years later.  From The Parkersburg News and Sentinel, April 15, 2022 feature by J J Barrett 

Backyard Gardener: Irish potatoes are an Appalachian tradition

: 

This week let’s talk potatoes. Yes, Irish potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) not sweet potatoes (Ipomea batatas). A sweet potato is a tropical plant with a tuberous root. Irish potatoes are not roots but specialized underground storage stems called “tubers.” Potatoes are among the earliest vegetables planted in the garden. Irish potatoes are a family tradition here in the Mid-Ohio Valley, including favorites such as Red Pontiac, Yukon Gold and Kennebec.

Potatoes are a staple food across the world for their adaptability, yield, nutritional value and storage quality. They are the fourth-largest food crop in the entire world following corn, rice and wheat.

Two [Una Fisher 1898-1983] had this covered vegetable dish.  Grandma Mary Lou remembered fondly that Two would put a big dollop of butter in a little dip on top of hot mashed potatoes, close the lid, and the butter would melt.  I love continuing this tradition.  

Jack Fisher (right) and sons, 1931, West Virginia  

Another memory that Grandma Mary Lou shared was that her Fisher uncles would smash baked potatoes with their fists in one motion, to break open the potato, at the table, much to her delight and Two's chagrin. 

Cynthia