Potato salad – hot, warm, or cold from the fridge. It’s the salad that conquered the world. However, you can’t have potato salad without potatoes – so let’s start with that.
Potatoes are native to South America. They were cultivated over 8,000 years ago by indigenous tribes, serving as a staple in their diets. Potatoes were easy to grow, calorie-dense, and could be stored for a long time. Tribes mashed, baked, boiled, and stewed potatoes. (See the image of an ancient Indian deity below).
Today it’s hard to imagine a picnic, barbecue, or family get-together without potato salad. Yet it took centuries and a world of variations before this salad found its place on your table.
The Spanish Conquistadores brought potatoes to Europe in the sixteenth century. Europeans refused to eat them. It was a “non-food,” according to Wikipedia, “regarded with suspicion and fear . . . the creation of witches or devils.” They believed that the rough, uneven shape spoke of evil spirits, causing diseases like leprosy, syphilis, and narcosis (stupor, unconsciousness, or extreme fatigue). Potatoes were completely banned in France from 1748-1772.
“Traditional” potato salad probably goes back to the 1700s. Frederick the Great of Germany, ordered that potatoes should be cultivated. The wheat crop had failed and he needed to feed his army. It wasn’t long before kartoffel (potatoes) became kartoffelsalat (potato salad).
The salad was made by boiling potatoes in wine or a mixture of vinegar and spices and served warm. Sometimes they added bacon and sugar. German immigrants brought the recipe to the New World, and the American, Amish, and other regional potato salads were born.
The recipe was also adapted by French, Greek, Polish, Israeli, and Austrian cooks. Eventually Japan, Korea, Vietnam, China and others created their own versions.
Today potato salad is an American icon. There are countless variations related to community, history, family, and location. Culinary historian and author, Michael Twitty, noted that “like a child raised to believe that my church is the only true one, I have had to suspend the idea that I or my culture owns the sole, true potato salad.” There are so many recipes that it fills hundreds of cookbooks, websites, and family recipe boxes.
There’s Amish style, drizzled sweet creamy dressing over potatoes, celery, boiled eggs, onion, and sweet pickle relish
How about soul food where Rosalind Cummings-Yeates in The Takeout explained that southern cooks preferred mayonnaise and sweet relish while northerners preferred dill and sour cream. Dr. Jon Paul Higgins declared in The Kitchen that his mother’s potato salad was the best, calling it “pure black joy.” Mama used mustard, relish, Lawry’s seasoning salt, and mayonnaise.
Doesn’t sound very fancy.
That’s all before your grandma’s recipe is added to the mix – along with celebrity chefs like Bobby Flay, Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, and Pioneer Woman’s “perfect potato salad.”
Then there are the infamous potato salads – the ones that get attention for things other than their recipes.
Guinness World Records awarded the largest serving of potato salad to Spilva Ltd, Latvia. It used over 1,102 pounds of mayonnaise, 2,072 pounds of boiled potatoes, 749 pounds of sausage, 6,000 pounds of boiled eggs, 440 pounds of canned peas, 310 pickled cucumbers, and 33 pounds of salt.
That’s quite a mouthful.
Not to be outdone, Ohio native Zach “Danger” Brown tried to raise $10 on Kickstarter to make his own potato salad. He got $5,500 instead. He used the extra money to throw a party called “Potato Stock” where hundreds of pounds of potatoes were served.
Don’t forget Mr. Potato Head or gag books like Always Be Yourself Unless You Can Be A Potato Then Always Be a Potato or nifty potato costumes and dog toys.
What’s the best potato salad? The one you love.
Eat hearty.
Very interesting! Love potato salad. But not too creamy.