Potatos are hot, hot, hot! And the creator of the "classic American potato," Luther Burbank, is featured not only in the novel we are reading for class, Ruth Ozeki's All Over Creation, but also in a new book reviewed Sunday in the New York Times.
Jane S. Smith has written a biography of Burbank, titled The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants.
According to the review, Smith writes that the type of russet potato Burbank developed became so popular that McDonald's insisted on its use for the making of its French fries. "Then, in 1995, the Monsanto Corporation would genetically modify the russet Burbank so that the potato could produce its own pesticide to repel the Colorado potato beetle."
And did you know that 2008 was declared the "International Year of the Potato" by the United Nations? Nope, neither did I. That lucky spud.
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