Introduction:

given the lack of historical documentary sources about the beginning of potato effective consumption in Vitoria (Alava, Spain), its introduction in the urban diet is estimated from cultivation and production data. This only allows asserting the introduction of the cultivation at the end of the 18th century, the recognition of two quantitative jumps during the Independence and First Carlist Wars, and that it was the second cultivation in quantity by 1857.

Objective/method:

from the hypothesis of a good correspondence between hospital diet and ordinary urban diet, evidenced in other studies for Vitoria, it is proposed to document the chronology of potato introduction in the urban diet from its analysis in the city hospital, as well as to contextualize concurrent historical events, through the review and analysis of primary and secondary documentary sources.

Results:

the hospital keeps a record of food acquisitions since 1743. The first purchase of potatoes was paid on September 17, 1834. Acquisitions continue in very variable quantities and dates, which are normalized from 1844. Contextually, there is a major subsistence crisis with cholera as the most immediate and necessary cause in synergy with the first carlist war and the devastation of crops in a summer storm. In 1854 the potato was established in the urban diet.

Conclusions:

the first acquisition of potatoes was made in September 1834 in the immediate context of cholera together with the carlist war and catastrophic weather effects.

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