Potatoes – a food for today’s consumer

 A Potato Summit held this week (Wednesday 17th September) in London, demonstrated just how much potatoes have to offer today’s consumer.  With the credit crunch showing no signs of abating, potatoes are really coming into their own against both pasta and rice. For versatility, convenience, value and nutritional content potatoes are extremely hard to beat.

Kathryn Race, Marketing Director from Potato Council, opened the summit by revealing new research which shows that 40%* of consumers believe that using more fresh potatoes in their cooking will help reduce their weekly shopping bill.  Kathryn commented that: “Although it is good to know that nearly half* of consumers believe that potatoes offer more versatility than other carbohydrates, we need to remind everyone that potatoes are very much a food for today. Delivering more nutrients for your money against pasta or rice and infinitely more versatile, potatoes should be an essential item on any weekly menu planner.”

The event was hosted by world-renowned chef, TV presenter and food archaeologist Alan Coxon.  Alan demonstrated a range of deliciously simple potato dishes, using just a handful of store cupboard ingredients, and each costing less than £1.50 a head. Making a tasty meal with potatoes is very easy, as Alan showed - his recipes for Smoked Haddock and Potato Chowder and Chicken and Potato Curry take just 10 minutes to prepare.  

Alan commented on the relevance of potatoes for today’s consumer: “With the credit crunch looking like it is here for a while longer, there has never been a better time to raise the profile of such a wonderful home-grown food like potatoes.  There are so many healthy meals and snacks we can make using potatoes – from casseroles and jacket potatoes, to omelettes and roasts, today’s shoppers should take advantage by including more potatoes in their weekly meals.  Not only are potatoes quick to prepare, but they are unbelievably good value too!”

Convenience and versatility are only part of what today’s consumers look for.  Serving up healthy, balanced meals is also very important which, as nutritionist Fiona Hunter explained, is another reason to choose potatoes: “Potatoes are full of a wide variety of nutrients from potassium and iron to vitamin C and folate. No wonder then that research shows that 82%** of consumers think potatoes are healthy. Many consumers though may be surprised to learn that a jacket potato will contain three times more iron than a portion of rice and 20 times more potassium than a bowl of pasta”.

For more information on potatoes, including recipes and nutritional information, please visit www.britishpotatoes.co.uk 

For further information or images please contact:

David Gough Lisa Woodman

Ceres Partnership Ceres Partnership

Tel: 0118 947 5956 Tel: 0118 947 5956

E: david.gough@ceres-pr.co.uk E: lisa.woodman@ceres-pr.co.uk

*Potatoes in an economic downturn, Oxford Partnership on behalf of Potato Council, July 2008

**Potato Awareness, Oxford Partnership on behalf of Potato Council, July 2008

• Potato Council is part of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board www.ahdb.org.uk working on behalf of British potato growers and purchasers to promote potatoes.  Potato Council is funded through a statutory levy on 3,000 potato growers and potato trade purchasers and aims to support the British potato industry  

• Potato Council has pledged its support for the year-long International Year of the Potato (IYP) event. Launched at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York, IYP will focus on the importance of the potato in providing food security and alleviating poverty.  Further information is available at http://www.britishpotatoes.co.uk/year-of-the-potato

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