Asst. Prof. Dr. Murat Doğan's new article titled “Do wars alone change the course of History? Or Can a vegetable replace it too?" has been published in the Journal of Food Taste. Doğan, in his article, discussed vegetables and the effect of vegetables on the change in political and industrial history in ancient times.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Murat Dogan;
There is no one of us who does not take history lessons in school. Most of us, like me, found history interesting and loved it. I would like to ask you this now. Can a vegetable change the course of history? If I say yes, I can almost hear you calling me "Don't be ridiculous, teacher".
What do you think is your reason for thinking this way? Then it's good to say this. The classical historical narrative that we know is shaped by wars. Yes, we try to understand history in terms of empires and kingdoms that were destroyed or established today.
For those who look at food, food, nutrition and gastronomy like me, this perspective is not enough.
I'm going to say something assertive now. Historians should not be angry with me. Yes, imagine a root crop, this little tuber was able to change the world. This plant is potatoes.
There are many rumors about how the potato moved from the new world to the old world. A ship called the Armada, which was on its way from the Americas to the European continent, sank and hit the Irish coast with potatoes. The Irish grow them. In another, an English noble named Sir Francis Drake brought the miracle tuber to Europe and cultivated it. The most plausible one is that botanists named Clusius, Banlin, and Culpeper cultivated the potato by bringing it to Europe from the Americas in the 1500s.
You can say "Teacher, what does this have to do with changing the course of the world and history ?". Now it's its turn.
Potatoes were first introduced to Spain in the first half of 1500 and from there to Italy and France. However, in the early days, potatoes were not food that people ate. It was cultivated as fodder for cattle and cows. However, the potato that reached Ireland changed course a bit. The climate and geography of Ireland were not very suitable and sufficient to grow wheat. For this reason, the poor Irish, who could not find bread, fed this fodder to their cattle and ate it themselves. It was delicious when boiled in salted water. Miraculous tubers were grown and consumed in the tiny gardens of all houses. So much so that the Irish, who never had enough, was starting to get fat. There was a population explosion after the 16th century, and it continued until the 18th century exponentially. However, there was a disaster called the potato famine in Ireland, which started in 1842 and lasted for seven years. In those years, a fungus that infected the cultivated potatoes in the fields and gardens affected all of Ireland, and the entire crop was garbage. It took seven years, easy to say. Nearly one million people died of starvation and as many emigrated. One in four Irish people has died.
Now I'm talking about the result that changed the course of history. But first I have to say this. The Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid saw the seriousness of the situation and provided both financial aid and supplies with ships. However, the Queen of England refrained from helping the people right next to her. For this reason, the Irish were more resentful towards the British. No one has not watched the movie Braveheart, starring Mel Gibson. It reflects very well the feelings of the Irish towards the British. This disaster increased the number of those who defended the independence of Ireland. The people secretly hated the royal family, and all this paved the way for Irish independence.
Now let's move on to another date change. Yes, some of the starving Irish people have reached the west coast of the new continent of North America. As a result, this population change helped shape the industrial and political history of that day and then continued to shape the history of today's USA, especially its political history.
In another article, I plan to write about how wheat shaped and changed history.
We congratulate asst. Prof. Dr. Murat Doğan and wish him success in his work.
