Sunday, May 27, 2018

DID THEY COME FROM OUTER SPACE?


Scientists now are zeroing in on the origin of sweet potatoes. For many centuries, sweet potatoes have been cultivated in Central and South America.

However, in the 1700s, explorers of the South Pacific from Europe, such as Captain Cook, were surprised to find that sweet potatoes also were grown in Polynesia for centuries. Indeed, Captain Cook brought a sample Polynesian sweet potato home with him in 1769. Indeed, one might speculate whether Captain Bligh's HMS Bounty actually could have been carrying a load of sweet potatoes from Tahiti, mis-named as breadfruit. Whatever, Mr. Christian's mutiny makes the question moot.

For years, scientists thought that sailors from Polynesia sailed to South America and transported sweet potatoes back to their homelands. I suppose, the sweet potatoes became known as "sea potatoes."

However, in our technology-driven world, scientists now have analyzed the DNA of sweet potato specimens, including the well-preserved 250 year old one from Captain Cook's 1769 voyage.* They have concluded that the Polynesian sweet potato has a different genetic make-up compared to the South American version, casting doubt on the Polynesian sailor spud story.

However, despite this advancement in science, disagreement still persists as to the origin of Polynesian sweet potatoes. For example, one scientist asserts that Captain Cook's single ancient sweet potato does not offer sufficient data to reject the sailor explanation. And, another scientist points out that the Polynesian word for sweet potato is similar to the South American word.*

As an aside, sweet potatoes were introduced in China in the late 1500s. Today, in addition to just about everything else, China produces two-thirds of the world's sweet potatoes.

No doubt, the origin of Polynesian sweet potatoes will continue to be studied and debated by scientists, along with other pressing issues such as alleged climate change. Perhaps, we are looking for sweet potatoes in all the wrong places. After all, only God can make a sweet potato.

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*Garisto,"Polynesian Sailings to America
Doubted", Science News, April 28 and
May 12, 2018, p.18

© Daniel J. Kucera 2018

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