Editing Potato (section)

== Cultural significance ==

=== In mythology ===

[[File:Axomama.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Axomamma]], Incan goddess of potatoes]]

In [[Inca mythology]], a daughter of the earth mother [[Pachamama]], [[Axomamma]], is the goddess of potatoes. She ensured the fertility of the soil and the growth of the tubers.<ref name="Thurner 2021">{{cite book |last1=Thurner |first1=Mark |last2=Pimentel |first2=Juan |title=New World Objects of Knowledge |publisher=Institute of Latin American Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London |publication-place=London |date=2021 |isbn=978-1-908857-82-8 |oclc=on1242739583 |page=248 |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/55756/1/9781908857828.pdf#page=267}}</ref> According to [[Iroquois mythology]], the first potatoes [[Origin myth |grew]] out of Earth Woman's feet after she [[Maternal death |died giving birth]] to her [[Twin |twin sons]], [[Hahgwehdiyu |Sapling and Flint]].<ref name="Converse 1908">{{cite journal |last1=Converse |first1=Harriet Maxwell (Ya-ie-wa-no) |author1-link=Harriet Maxwell Converse |last2=Parker |first2=Arthur Caswell (Ga-wa-so-wa-neh) |date=15 December 1908 |title=Myths and Legends of the New York State Iroquois |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924055492973 <!--myth is told at [[Hahgwehdiyu |Sapling and Flint]]--> |journal=Education Department Bulletin |publisher=[[University of the State of New York]] |pages=31–41 <!--page 34-->"Creation: Ata-en-sic, the Sky Woman" and "The Sun, Moon and Stars" |access-date=1 June 2024}}</ref>

=== In art ===

The potato has been an essential crop in the Andes since the [[pre-Columbian era]]. The [[Moche (culture) |Moche]] culture from Northern [[Peru]] made ceramics from the earth, water, and fire. This pottery was a sacred substance, formed in significant shapes and used to represent important themes. Potatoes are represented anthropomorphically as well as naturally.<ref>Berrin, Katherine & [[Larco Museum]]. The Spirit of Ancient Peru: Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York:Thames and Hudson, 1997.</ref>
During the late 19th century, numerous images of potato harvesting appeared in European art, including the works of [[Willem Witsen]] and [[Anton Mauve]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Steven Adams |author2=Anna Gruetzner Robins |title=Gendering Landscape Art |year=2000 |publisher=[[University of Manchester]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dY7xwrA-ibQC&pg=PA67 |isbn=978-0-7190-5628-4 |page=67}}</ref>
[[Van Gogh]]'s 1885 painting ''[[The Potato Eaters]]'' portrays a family eating potatoes. Van Gogh said he wanted to depict peasants as they really were. He deliberately chose coarse and ugly models, thinking that they would be natural and unspoiled in his finished work.<ref name="vgg">{{cite web |url=http://www.vggallery.com/visitors/004.htm |title=The Potato Eaters by Vincent van Gogh |last=van Tilborgh |first=Louis |year=2009 |work=The Vincent van Gogh Gallery |access-date=11 September 2009}}</ref>
[[Jean-François Millet]]'s ''The Potato Harvest'' depicts peasants working in the plains between Barbizon and Chailly. It presents a theme representative of the peasants' struggle for survival. Millet's technique for this work incorporated paste-like pigments thickly applied over a coarsely textured canvas.<ref name="William Johnston">Johnston, W.R., Nineteenth Century Art: From Romanticism to Art Nouveau, The Walters Art Gallery, p.56, {{ISBN|1857592433}}</ref>

<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths="160px" heights="160px">
File:Papamuseolarco.jpg|Potato ceramic from the [[Moche (culture)|Moche]] culture
File:Jean-François Millet - The Potato Harvest - Walters 37115.jpg |''[[The Potato Harvest]]'' by [[Jean-François Millet]], 1855 ([[Walters Art Museum]])
File:Bastien Lepage Saison d-Octobre Recolte des pommes de terre.jpg |''The potato harvest'' by [[Jules Bastien-Lepage]], 1877, [[National Gallery of Victoria]]
File:Van-willem-vincent-gogh-die-kartoffelesser-03850.jpg |''[[The Potato Eaters]]'' by [[Van Gogh]], 1885 ([[Van Gogh Museum]])
File:Anker Die kleine Kartoffelschälerin 1886.jpg |''Girl peeling potatoes'' by [[Albert Anker]], 1886, oil on canvas 
</gallery>

=== In popular culture ===

Invented in 1949, and marketed and sold commercially by [[Hasbro]] in 1952, [[Mr. Potato Head]] is an American toy that consists of a plastic potato and attachable plastic parts, such as ears and eyes, to make a face. It was the first toy ever advertised on television.<ref name="VAC">{{cite web |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1120879/mr-potato-head-construction-toy-lerner-george/ |title=Mr Potato Head |website=Museum of Childhood |publisher=V&A Museum of Childhood |access-date=4 June 2024}}</ref><ref name="historyofhasbro">{{cite web |url=http://www.hasbro.com/default.cfm?page=ci_history_mph |title=About Mr. Potato Head |access-date=August 28, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925085901/http://www.hasbro.com/default.cfm?page=ci_history_mph |archive-date=September 25, 2008}}</ref><ref name=WTToys>{{cite book |last=Walsh |first=Tim |title=Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Made Them |publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=0-7407-5571-4}}</ref>

In the 2015 science fiction film [[The_Martian_(film)#Scientific_accuracy|''The Martian'']], the protagonist, a stranded astronaut and botanist named Mark Watney, cultivates potatoes on Mars using [[Martian regolith|Martian soil]] fertilized with frozen feces.<ref>{{cite web |title=Could we grow potatoes on Mars? |publisher=Knowledge Centre, University of Warwick |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/knowledgecentre/science/physics-astrophysics/growing_potatoes_on_mars/|access-date=4 June 2024 |date=18 August 2020}}</ref>