– Tim Fanning on potato impresario Henry Doyle

Dublin-born emigrant Henry Doyle had tried his hand at religious proselytism and industrial espionage before hitting on his métier, writing best-selling tracts in Spanish about the virtues of the potato. Photograph: Getty ImagesOnce upon a time no Irish dinner would have been complete without a rake of spuds. Times have changed, however, and the humble potato, although continuing to be as synonymous with Ireland as a certain durable stout, has ceded ground to all manner of other staples.

As part of the eponymously named Columbian Exchange, the most significant period in a long process of biological globalisation, the Old World gave the New World smallpox, influenza and African slavery; the New World returned the favour by giving us tobacco and syphilis, although the latter was possibly another of our gifts to the Americas.

In the racially hierarchical Spanish Empire, this meant that potatoes were not regarded as a food fit for Spaniards. He was initially given the task of establishing a factory and, then, was sent to England to steal the latest advancements in textile manufacturing.When the factory failed, however, he had the opportunity to indulge his great love, agriculture. In a number of successful published works, Doyle explained to the Spanish readership how the potato had transformed Ireland by giving to the poorest in society a healthy and nourishing diet.

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