NATIONAL TATER DAY

If you like your spuds, National Tater Day on March 31st is for you! The day recognizes all kinds of potatoes which provide us with essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

Potatoes are quite versatile, which might explain why so many people like them. They are the number one consumed vegetable in the United States. And when you consider how many ways we can eat the over 200 different kinds of potatoes in the United States, you shouldn’t be surprised.

First off, we can bake them. Who doesn’t like a baked potato? Sit down in back. Plus those baked potatoes? You can bake them twice with all sorts of delicious toppings. Twice! Secondly, we can boil them. And from the boiled potatoes we can make soups, salads or make one of the world’s all-time favorite potato dishes – mashed potatoes. And did you know, mashed potatoes have numerous different recipes, too? You can’t have shepherd’s pie without mashed potatoes. Dice them and slice them and we can make scalloped, fried or even hashbrowns. And then, of course, there’s potato dumplings and pancakes.

Beyond all the ways we can use potatoes, this day may have originally had a different meaning. At the beginning of April, there is a celebration of the sweet potato (Tater Day) in parts of Kentucky. Sweet potatoes are one of the main cash crops in that area. Tater Day started way back in the early 1840s with the trading and selling of sweet potatoes. It is the oldest continuous trade day in the United States.

Worldwide, there are more than four thousand potato varieties.

Since the time potatoes were shipped from Europe to the colonies in the early 17th century, their consumption has been a major part of the North American diet.

HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalTaterDay

Have your potato, tater or spud the way you like it. Use #NationalTaterDay to post on social media.

NATIONAL TATER DAY HISTORY

The day may have originated in Kentucky where they have celebrated Tater Day for some time. However, our research was unable to find the creator of National Tater Day.

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