Potato. Monuments to potatoes

Nightshade tuberous (lat. Solanum tuberosum),

he's a potato, he's a potato, he's bread number 2.

The tubers are an important food product, in contrast to the poisonous fruits containing the glycoalkaloid solanine. Tubers tend to turn green when stored in the light, which is an indicator of an increased content of solanine in them. Eating one green tuber along with the peel can lead to serious poisoning. Another indicator of high levels of poison in potatoes is a bitter taste.

In 1853, the Alsatian sculptor André Friedrich presented the city of Offenburg, Baden-Württemberg, with a statue of Sir Francis Drake with a potato flower in his hand. In 1939, the monument was destroyed as the "potato man" Drake, praised in songs, was declared an enemy. The owner of a nearby hotel managed to save Drake's stone hands, which are now in the local museum.

In March 2008, a potato monument was unveiled in Erfurt, Thuringia with the inscription "Heichelheim World Potato". The monument points the way to the Potato Museum, where you can trace the long history of this plant, planted in Jena's botanical garden as far back as 1659. Gradually, the potato became a staple food in Thuringia, and today it is impossible to imagine the local cuisine without potato dishes.

In Japan, in the city of Urawa, Saitama Prefecture, there is a monument to yam (sweet potato) and pumpkin, which allowed the peasants to survive during the years of wars and disasters.

In 2011, in the Uporovsky district of the Tyumen region, local farmers erected a monument to Zikura potatoes. The monument is a two-meter potato. A monument was erected by the Uporovo agricultural company KRIMM, whose vegetable growers reached the European level in potato production. And the variety "Zikura" at tastings of grown potatoes constantly comes out as winners.

And in Belarus, which is considered the most "potato country", the national product has not been immortalized. Although the idea existed for a long time, and even on December 3, 2005, the official opening of the Bulba monument was expected in Pobediteley Avenue in Minsk. But something went wrong and the idea remained unfulfilled. Further, the potato monument was supposed to be put up for auction. More detailed information about the further fate of this monument could not be found. And it would look like this:

But in Mariinsk (Kuzbass, Kemerovo region) potato monument was inaugurated on September 20, 2008. It was made of wood by local sculptor Yuri Mikhailov. It was in Mariinsk that the world yield record was set: in 1942, 1331 centners of potatoes were harvested from one hectare.

September 20, 2008 in Mariinsk was inaugurated potato monument. It was made of wood by sculptor Yuri Mikhailov.

Monument to potatoes staged in Mariinsk (Kemerovo region). A charming mustachioed potato in a hat with earflaps with a shovel thrown over the shoulder is carved from wood. He appeared in the city in 2008. And this is not surprising: it was in Mariinsk that the world record for potato yield was set. Here in 1939 they collected 1217.28 centners per hectare. This is even more than the record set for the harvest in the homeland of potatoes - in America, where the figure was only 1,100 centners. The Mariinsky record has not yet been broken, although it was set 74 years ago.

In Mariinsk, Kemerovo region, a hooligan damaged a monument to potatoes - a young man tore off a wooden shovel from the monument (the protagonist of the sculptural composition held it in his hand), the press service of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the region reports. As Gazeta Kemerova writes, the incident occurred on the night of June 22, 2012. According to available information, the teenager who took the shovel from the wooden potato was drunk at the time of the violation. Witnesses of his act were his friends. The police managed to arrest the hooligan. Currently, the issue of bringing him to justice for his deeds is being resolved. Whether the shovel was returned to the potato is not specified.

A monument to potatoes depicting an anthropomorphic potato wearing an earflap and holding a shovel was erected in Mariinsk in 2008.

As the author of the project, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Alexander Rozhnikov told MK, the urban settlement of Kraskovo, Lyubertsy District, may well claim the title of the potato capital of the Moscow region.

The fact is that two leading Russian institutes are located here, whose research and development is related to this favorite Russian vegetable - the All-Russian Research Institute of Potato Farming. A.G. Lorkha and All-Russian Research Institute of Starch Products. “In Lukhovitsy there is a monument to a cucumber, in the village of Raduzhnoye, Kolomna District, there is a monument to an onion. So why not decorate Kraskovo with a sculptural composition dedicated to potatoes?” - thought in the administration of the settlement. A native of Kraskov, Alexander Rozhnikov, was called to turn the idea into a sketch, to which he happily agreed.

The composition is a cast-iron pot with a diameter of 90 centimeters, wrapped in a towel and decorated with a cheerful inscription: "Whoever eats potatoes and bread will live to be 100 years old." At the ends of the towel there is an ornament from the coat of arms of the settlement. On top of the cast iron is a large spoon, in which lies a huge potato tuber. All items are cast in light bronze. And there is a vessel on a pedestal lined with red granite. The height of the pedestal is fifty meters. A monument will be erected at the entrance to the village of Korenevo, which is part of the urban settlement of Kraskovo. Presumably, its grand opening will take place on the twentieth of July (the exact date has not yet been determined). Moreover, the Kraskovo administration wants to establish a big potato festival on this occasion, which is planned to be made annual in the future. Guests of the event are waiting for a theatrical performance and tasting of potato dishes. And the producers of the “second bread” promise to bring young potatoes with them for sale.

Previously, we have already written interesting information from potato history. In this article, we invite you to learn more interesting facts about potatoes! What is the most expensive, largest, most unusual potato in the world? What museums, monuments and works of art have been dedicated to the potato? What non-standard ways of using potatoes are there? And many more interesting things about our "second bread".

· Facts about potato varieties

· 1. The potato belongs to the genus Nightshade(Solanum L.), and its “relatives” are tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.), eggplants (Solanum melongena L.), as well as tobacco and poisonous nightshade. It is propagated vegetatively: tubers, tuber lobes, sprouts, cuttings. Reproduction by seeds is possible, but this method is used mainly in breeding for breeding new varieties.

· 2. Potatoes can vary not only in taste, shape and size, but also in color. In addition to the usual white and yellow potatoes, there are also red, purple and even black. The unusual color is associated primarily with a high content of useful trace elements. For example, red-purple varieties are rich in anthocyanin, an antioxidant substance that protects against aging; yellow potatoes contain a lot of carotene, which improves eyesight; black potatoes are just a storehouse of vitamins and minerals. True, its appearance is so unusual that it is not particularly popular. At least in our latitudes.

· 3. There are two rare varieties of potatoes in which the color of the skin and flesh remains blue even after boiling: Linzer Blaue and Französische Trüffelkartoffel.

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· 4. One of the most common varieties with a bluish skin, grown in Russian gardens - "Sineglazka". However, few people know that scientifically it is called "Hannibal", in honor of the great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, Abram Hannibal, who was the first to conduct experiments on the selection and storage of potatoes in Russia.

· 5. Alpine potatoes in the Andes are considered the most cold-resistant - they can withstand temperatures as low as -8°C! This potato is absolutely different from those grown in our gardens, it looks more like a plantain - the leaves are collected in a small rosette, spread out on the ground. A peduncle with several purple flowers rises a few centimeters above them, from which, after flowering, small berries grow, inclined to the ground.

· 6. There is also such an unusual type of potato, which has acquired the life form of epiphytes and settles on the trees, like many tropical orchids and bromeliads. It is distinguished by very small flowers and berries the size of only a currant, and its tubers hang from a bush rooted in hollows, cracks, or simply on the bark of trees.

· 7. In South America, an evergreen grows in the tropics. potato tree(Solanum wrightii Benth.), which grows up to 15 meters in height and blooms and bears fruit all year round. It does not form tubers, and the berries are inedible and are very similar to tomatoes, only black and purple with a blue tint. The brown bark of the plant is covered with long spines, young shoots, and leaves are densely pubescent with hairs. The leaves reach 30 centimeters in length, and the flowers are 10 times larger than in the usual potato.

The potato tree has become popular for growing in home gardens, however, this plant is thermophilic, for the winter it must be covered or transferred to a dry, cool room.

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· 8. Lima (the capital of Peru) is International Potato Center, where they create a complete collection of potatoes. Its there over 7000 varieties! Sectioned material is stored in an earthquake-resistant room with a constant temperature. There are thousands of test tubes with small green shoots. There are many research organizations around the world dealing with potato issues.

· 9. Despite the fact that there are many varieties of potatoes, new ones are constantly appearing. For example, Peruvian specialists from the International Potato Research Center have developed varieties with an increased amount of protein, American scientists have developed a hybrid that is not afraid of pests, and Hungarian breeders have developed potatoes with twice as much protein as starch. In terms of nutritional value, it is not inferior to veal, and besides, it can be eaten raw. And in Germany, potatoes were grown that contain 130 times more carotene than ordinary varieties.

· 10. A few years ago, the British company Naturally Best promoted the potato market exclusive variety with a romantic name "Vivaldi" bred for an unusual smell, slightly similar to the smell of fresh butter. In addition, it turned out that this variety contains 33% fewer calories and 26% less carbohydrates compared to other varieties.

· 11. Potato prices vary the most expensive potato in the world is La Bonnotte. Enterprising farmers who live on the island of Noirmoutier off the Atlantic coast of France harvest no more than 100 tons of this variety per year. Since the divine tuber (and according to legend, it was this variety that the supreme god of the Incas brought out) is exceptionally tender, it can only be collected by hand. Potatoes "La Bonnotte" will cost the most sophisticated gourmets about 500 euros per kilogram!

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· Holidays, museums and monuments dedicated to potatoes

· 12. Celebrations in honor of the potato are held all over the world. In Europe, the oldest such holiday - it has been held for almost 60 years - is the potato harvest festival in Lombardy, Italy. The program of the holiday includes competitions in the collection of potatoes, wrestling in vats of mashed potatoes, parades, processions, humorous contests. Craft and food fairs are held on this day.

· 13. In the US, Maine has been hosting the Potato Blossom Festival for 60 years now, featuring music and sports competitions, exhibitions of vintage tractors, and a show where the Potato Blossom Queen is chosen. Similar festivities are held in other cities of the United States and Canada. Recently, Potato Days have also been held in Russia.

· 14. In Slovenia, there is an association of lovers of fried potatoes with onions, it has one and a half thousand members. The association holds festivals of fried potatoes, with its support, a monument to this vegetable was opened in the International Year of the Potato (2008).

· 15. In different countries of the world there are many monuments, as well as several museums dedicated to potatoes.

· One of potato museums is in Belgium in the city of Bruges. Among its exhibits are thousands of items telling about the history of the potato, from postage stamps with its image to famous paintings on the same topic (Van Gogh's The Potato Eaters). At the Potato Museum, visitors are told about how the potato conquered Europe, from the day it appeared in the Old World to the present day. You'll learn how long and how heavy French fries should be, as well as the most unusual ways to use fried potatoes. The museum contains thousands of recipes with potatoes: from the usual to the most exotic.

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· Second potato museum is located in USA(Blackfoot, Idaho, recognized potato region). Everyone who buys a ticket to the museum receives in addition a box of potatoes, which you can take with you. In the museum itself, mock-ups, video presentations and interactive models tell the story of the transformation of households into huge potato factories. The curious can learn that french fries began their proud march across the United States from the White House, where they were once introduced to their guests by the third president of the country, Thomas Jefferson. Or that the average US citizen eats 60 kilograms of potatoes per year, while the German eats about 120 kilograms.

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· 16. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (in English Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO) announced 2008 "International Year of the Potato".

· As part of the Year of the Potato, national potato congresses, exhibitions, festivals were held, monuments to potatoes were opened. Bern (Switzerland) hosted the 60th session of the General Assembly of Europatat (Europatat is an organization that unites companies from 16 European countries involved in the wholesale potato trade). In Sydney, as part of the traditional exhibition of contemporary art, an exhibition of "works created under the influence of the potato - the potato as a metaphor, object, medium" was held. In France, a seminar on the use of French culinary techniques in the preparation of potato dishes, in Slovenia, the 8th World Festival of Fried Potatoes ... Many other events dedicated to potatoes have taken place around the world.

· 17. The potato is so loved by people that they install it in its honor. monuments. For example, in the capital of Belarus, Minsk, a monument to potatoes was opened in the 2000s. This proves that Belarusians are very fond of potatoes. There is a monument to potatoes in the Polish town of Besekez. Russia also has its own monument, it is installed in the city of Mariinsk (Kemerovo region). And in Ukraine, in the town of Korosten, there is a monument to potato pancakes. Well, the first such works of art, judging by the archaeological finds, were still in South America, several thousand years ago, long before we learned about potatoes.

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· Potato in art

· 18. Poems, songs, poems, ballads, stories, novellas and even serious musical works of the classics were dedicated to potatoes. For example, the great Johann Sebastian Bach once glorified the potato in his music.

· 19. The most famous potato painting is The Potato Eaters by Vincent van Gogh. He also has other paintings on this topic: "Basket of Potatoes" and "Woman Digging Potatoes." Other artists did not bypass this topic: Plastov “Collecting Potatoes”, Kuprin “Potato Flowers”, Bastien-Lepage “Woman Picking Potatoes”, Falk “Potato”, Kustodiev “Vegetable Trader”, Gritsay “Harvesting Potatoes”.

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· 20. It is worth mentioning how Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev in the Vasiliev film "Chapaev" on potato tubers explained the tactics of defensive and offensive combat.

· 21. Songs were written about potatoes: “Comrade Scientists” (words and music by Vladimir Vysotsky), “Potato” (words and music by Vladimir Popov), “Potato” (words by L. Korostin, music by N. Podkolskaya), in the film “Breakfast on the Grass” the song "Potato" to the music of Vladimir Shainsky, the words of Mikhail Lvovsky sounded.

· 22. Poems about potatoes are also known: “Potato” (Z. Aleksandrova), “Potato” (I. Demyanov), “Everything is in order in the garden” (V. Sabirov).

· 23. In China, they create bonsai from trees, but recently they also do it from potatoes, and you can grow bonsai of bizarre shapes from an ordinary potato tuber without much effort and time.

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· potato records

· 24. The largest potato in the world raised by farmer Khalil Semhat, originally from the city of Tire (Lebanon). The weight of this tuber was 11.2 kilograms! At first, the farmer could not believe his eyes, because he did not even strive to grow such a huge potato! Khalil also said that when growing potatoes, he did not use any fertilizers and did not pay much attention to his beds, the potatoes grew as usual. Farmer Khalil is very pleased that it was he who grew the largest potatoes in his garden. After getting into the Guinness Book of Records, interest in his farm increased greatly, and potato sales increased several times.

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· 25. The record for eating potatoes was set in Toronto (Canada) at the next World Championship in eating fried potatoes. Pat Bertoletti, who often participates in such competitions, managed to empty plates with almost 6 kilograms of fried potatoes with cheese and gravy in 10 minutes.

· 26. The record for peeling potatoes belongs to the German Linda Thomsen - she peeled 10.49 kilograms of potatoes in 10 minutes.

· 27. Belgium has set a new world record for continuous frying of french fries. The Belgian owner Chris Verschueren fried a total of 15 thousand servings of potatoes in 83 hours, thus improving the previous record set in 1987 by a British resident by 11 hours. Frites are one of the most beloved Belgian dishes of local cuisine.

· 28. In 2003, the inhabitants of the Belgian village of La Camalin set a world record for packaging french fries. They put 1.2 tons of potatoes in a bag 3.5 meters high.

· 29. The largest potato pancake in culinary history was made in the Spanish city of Carballo. For her, within a few hours, 3 tons of potatoes were peeled and grated, to which 25 thousand eggs, 350 liters of olive oil and 30 kilograms of salt were added. The record pancake turned out to be 5.2 meters in diameter!

· 30. In Belarus, they received one of the largest crops from a potato bush. In the city of Bobruisk-25, 26 potatoes were collected from one bush of "Sineglazka". The total weight was 3.15 kilograms.

· Production and cultivation of potatoes

· 31. The potato is the most important non-grain crop in the world and is the fourth most important of all agricultural crops after wheat, rice and corn.

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· 32. Potato is an environmentally friendly product. It is cheap and easy to grow without a huge amount of fertilizers and chemicals, although some growers use them anyway. Potatoes require less water to grow than other staple crops such as wheat, rice and corn. All this makes potatoes an ideal crop for farmers who can grow them in adverse conditions.

· 33. Israel has introduced a technology for the production of potatoes, which allows you to harvest 2-3 crops per year, a significant part of which is exported. Most go to England, where young fresh potatoes are preferred for Christmas dinner.

· 34. The potato was the first vegetable grown in space. He was raised on the Columbia spacecraft in October 1995.

· Potato as a food crop

· 35. Potatoes can be made almost 2 thousand dishes- from new potatoes to salad, jelly and pies. The culinary versatility of potatoes and good compatibility with other animal and plant products have contributed to the fact that they began to include it in a lot of first, second and even third (dessert) courses. Judge for yourself, potatoes can be boiled, fried, baked, stewed and generally subjected to the most unimaginable culinary transformations. Meat, fish, milk, mushrooms, vegetables - dishes from them only benefit from the addition of potatoes. A potato starch- an integral part of the traditional sweet dish of Russian cuisine - kissel. It is difficult even to list all the specialties of potatoes in cooking. Although they say: “You won’t be full of potatoes alone,” potatoes always occupy one of the first places on our table. Professional culinary specialists recommend frying pink potatoes, using yellow ones for soup, and white ones make tender and airy mashed potatoes.

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· 36. The Belgians are proud of the invention of french fries, considering it to be the ideal food - it does not contain bones, grains and peel. There is a legend that in the Belgian province of Namur there was once a custom to eat fried fish in gratitude to the local river Meuse for its gifts. When one day it was not possible to catch fish for the banquet table, the resourceful townspeople decided to replace it with long pieces of potatoes, fried in oil.

· 37. One of the recipes for preparing a traditional Russian dish - pancakes - implied the use of potatoes instead of flour.

· 38. Popular in modern Iceland vodka made from potatoes. Icelandic "Brennivin" (Brennivin) is considered the main unofficial alcoholic drink of the country. It is made from potatoes and cumin seeds, which are used to flavor the drink. Brennivin literally translates as "burning wine".

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· 39. IN potato composition includes starch, proteins, all essential amino acids, pectins, saccharides, fiber, almost all B vitamins, as well as vitamins C, P, K, PP and A, mineral salts (especially potassium and phosphorus), macro- and microelements, organic acids and sterols. Only 200-300 grams of potatoes contain the necessary daily intake of vitamin C.

· 40. Curiously, the water content of potatoes is around 75-80%, depending on the variety. This is only slightly less than in milk!

· 41. Recent studies by scientists have shown that the potato diet is good for memory improvement. After eating a serving of mashed potatoes, the glucose in the potato enters the body, and after 15 minutes, memory function improves.

· 42. Contrary to popular belief, potatoes are not very high in calories, with 110 calories per serving. But one tablespoon of butter will double the calorie content of potatoes, so be careful what and how much you add to potato dishes.

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· 43. To shorten the baking time, you can insert a wooden skewer into the potatoes or boil them in salted water for 10 minutes before placing them in the preheated oven.

· 44. If you cook potatoes in their skins, this will save a lot of nutritional value. Before serving, it is better to peel off the peel - it is not recommended to eat it: there are few useful substances in it, but toxins and pesticides, if they had anywhere to come from, will survive both washing and heat treatment.

· Non-food uses of potatoes

· 45. Potatoes are also widely used for non-food purposes: glue, animal feed and fuel ethanol are obtained from it. Potato starch is used in the pharmaceutical, textile, wood and paper industries, and by oil companies it is used to clean boreholes. Potato starch can be used as a substitute for polystyrene and other plastics, for example in the production of disposable plates, dishes and knives.

· 46. Recently, a technology for obtaining edible threads from potatoes and other vegetables was patented in Russia. These threads can be used to knit clothes, threads can be embroidered, desserts or snacks can be knitted from them, using a sugar or saline solution.

· 47. Potato is used in folk medicine and medical practice, in cosmetology, it has volatile and medicinal properties.

· 48. In Israel, at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, scientists received electricity, generated by electric batteries based on boiled potatoes. Such batteries made of zinc and copper electrodes and a piece of ordinary potato can work for several days and even weeks, and the electricity they generate is 5-50 times cheaper than that obtained from traditional batteries.

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· 49. Potatoes and dream books were not ignored. Miller's famous dream book interprets "potato dreams" like this: digging potatoes - for success, eating - for profit, planting - for the fulfillment of desires, and rotten potatoes - an unclear future.

· 50. With the help of potatoes, you can also learn about the fulfillment of your desires. There is such divination, based on ancient Inca divination. You need to choose the potato bush you like, on which the leaves have dried, dig it up and count the number of tubers that have grown on this bush. If there is an even number of tubers, the desire should soon come true, if it is odd, then the conceived desire will not come true. The Incas guessed easier - they counted the tubers in a randomly poured heap of potatoes. An even number was a good omen, an odd number was a bad omen.

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• Now, with the help of a masher, I mashed the potatoes and added warm milk and softened butter to the puree.

• Now let's start painting. With the help of juice from greens, a green puree is obtained. Carrot juice turns the puree pink. And beetroot juice makes raspberry puree.
• Here is a multi-colored side dish I prepared for dinner. My parents really liked it.

Conclusion

After reading articles in encyclopedias and the Internet, I learned how difficult it was for potatoes to get to Europe.

I learned about the people who put in a lot of effort to make the potato a popular food.

I told my classmates about this and showed them unusual monuments erected to potatoes in different countries.

I studied unusual potato recipes.

I learned how to cook unusual multi-colored mashed potatoes.

I created a booklet with unusual potato recipes.

Thus, the objectives of my work have been achieved.

Bibliography

1. Encyclopedia "Kaleidoscope of Knowledge", Reader's Digest 2005

2. Potato Dishes, My World, 2007

3. Unusual potato dishes, Anna Maksimuk, Phoenix, 2007

4. Encyclopedia "The Living World Around Us", Machaon 2005

5. Internet resources

On May 30, the voting results for the best potato monument project were summed up in our library. The competition for the best sketch of the monument, which Viktor Petrovich Astafiev dreamed of, was held in the library for three months. Students of the Institute of Architecture and Design under the guidance of SibFU Associate Professor Dmitry Shavlygin presented their vision of the heroic vegetable.

Recently, all over the world have been working on the embodiment of Astafiev's idea. There is a monument to potatoes in Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Poland, Ukraine and many other countries of the world. Quite often, a potato appears in the form of a stone boulder, similar in appearance to it. In 2007, the first potato monument in Russia appeared in the Siberian lands, in Mariinsk. Quite modest, but colorful. It was built by a local craftsman from wood, and is a potato with a shovel in his hands.

Monument to potatoes in Mariinsk

Astafiev himself in 1972 addressed his compatriots with the following words:
“In honor of the potato, a monument should be erected in Russia. Monuments were erected to the geese that saved Rome. In Australia, there is supposedly a monument to a sheep. The last wolf of Europe has been sculpted! Well, if it’s embarrassing, unethical to erect a monument to potatoes - the fruit is still a vegetable, then to the one who found this fruit in overseas lands, he singled it out among other wild plants, brought it to Russia and, risking his head, introduced it on Russian soil.

The soul freezes and is delighted with the descriptions of this most seemingly ordinary garden plant. A translator from China, professor of Nanjing University Cheng Shuxian came to Ovsyanka to see Astafiev after reading his “Ode to the Russian Garden”: "This is a magical book. she said. Only a kind person could write it. How brilliantly he managed to combine the lofty, jubilant and tragic with the simplest, describing the same potato!

And the writer confessed frankly and joyfully: “Oh, potatoes, potatoes! Well, is it really possible to pass by, not to stop, not to remember? .. If we are in the mind and in conscience and honor - our savior is a vegetable garden! There is no need to break your head here. In that garden, the most important savior is a modest, long-suffering creature, with a fate-share similar to a Russian woman - a potato!

The participants of the competition from the Siberian Federal University, fortunately, also remembered the savior potato, sung with such love by V.P. Astafiev, visited Ovsyanka and boldly set about creating projects. 27 students took part in the competition dedicated to the birthday of the great writer. According to the results of the voting, the winners for the best sketch of the "Potato Monument" were:

1st place - Gubenko Nadezhda Viktorovna

2nd place - Bozhenova Victoria Sergeevna

3rd place - Shestakova Elena Vasilievna

Congratulations to the winners of the competition and we wish you further creative success!

Back in 1853, the Alsatian sculpture Andre Friedrich presented the German city of Offenburg (Baden-Württemberg) with a statue of Sir Francis Drake - a pirate and politician - with a potato flower in his hand. In 1939, the monument was destroyed because this English hero was recognized as an enemy. The owner of a nearby hotel managed to save Drake's stone hands, presented today at the local museum.

In Thuringia, where the potato has gradually become a staple food, a monument to this vegetable was erected in 2008 in Erfurt. On it is written with a certain degree of modesty: "Heichelheim World Potato".

And in Bavaria in Pilgramsreuth in 1990, a monument was opened, a monument of gratitude to the peasants, symbolizing gratitude. The inscription at the foot of the bronze figures makes it clear: “Hans Rogler and other peasants began the systematic sowing of potatoes in the fields in Pilgramsreuth in 1647.” There is a similar monument in Sweden.

In Japan, in the city of Urawa, a monument was erected to the sweet potato (sweet potato) and also to the pumpkin. These vegetables helped the peasants to survive in difficult years.

There is a monument to potatoes in Romania - erected right in the field, near the city of Gheorgheni; and in the Polish town of Besekez (Koszalin district); and in the Australian city of Robertson (New South Wales) - perhaps this is the most exciting monument, and its name is appropriate - "Big Potato".

At the entrance to the building of the Institute of Potato Growing in the village of Nemeshaevo, Kyiv region, there is a monument to potatoes. It is dedicated to a specific variety - "Skarbnytsya". On the basis of the monument, there was also a place for the Colorado potato beetle.

Vyacheslav SIGALOVSKY
Photo deutsch-sprechen.ru, bayern-fichtelgebirge.de, livejournal.com