Potato Day In St. Petersburg

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

From "fucking apple" to "second bread"

In preparation for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, the 300th anniversary of the delivery (thanks to Peter I) and the beginning of the cultivation of "earth apples" in Russia passed completely unnoticed. But our country owes a lot to this now traditional culture, which has literally turned into a national one. According to some official information, it is assumed that more than 100 million inhabitants of the country have personal subsidiary plots, in the structure of the sown area of which potatoes occupy about 65%. That's how many potato growers we have.

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Therefore, about a year ago, I turned from the pages of the magazine "Flora Price" to the head of the Department for the Development of Horticulture and Horticulture of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region V. I. Zakharyashchev and the President of the Club of Chairmen of Horticultural Farms of the Leningrad Region V. G. Davydov with a proposal to establish in St. Petersburg an official annual Day of the Potato, which can then be made All-Russian.

Unfortunately, so far this proposal has remained unanswered. And while in Russia, as before in the USSR, there is no specific day (or exhibition week) dedicated to potatoes, although rather modest meetings and conferences, more often of a scientific nature, are periodically organized on this culture-nurse. Meanwhile, for the fourth year in a row in the city of Suzdal, the "cucumber" capital of Russia, the Day of the Cucumber is celebrated in September, gathering amateurs and professional breeders from all over the country. But the importance of potatoes, which have been known in culture for several millennia, is enormous both in the history of mankind and in our country. And it is more significant than the value of a cucumber.

Almost 96-97% of the gross potato crop in the country falls on the private sector. The rest (mainly seed material) is reproduced, unfortunately, not always with high quality, by state enterprises and a small number of farms.

In the spring, seed potatoes cost as much as oranges and bananas, sometimes combined! And this is in a region where potatoes may well be an export crop! And in the nearby areas they sell and plant, I know this well, in general, they are horrible!

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And what festivals, holidays and "Days" are not being arranged in St. Petersburg now! These are festivals of beer, dumplings producers, ski marathons and other, other events. I think that the holiday dedicated to the "second bread" is appropriate in the city of Peter, which gave Russia this culture. It is also appropriate because next to our metropolis in the Leningrad region there are almost 2860 gardening associations (575 thousand plots), there are still 140 thousand individual houses and summer cottages and 130 thousand vegetable gardens within the city.

The country is well known for the high professionalism of the Leningrad - St. Petersburg school of potato breeding - especially the specialists of the SZNII of Agriculture, VIR im. N. I. Vavilov. I think that Belarusians, Muscovites and Siberians who are interested in promoting and popularizing their varieties in the huge retail market of the North-West region, as well as "potato-growing" states - Holland, Finland, Poland, Germany and others will not refuse to participate in such a well-organized holiday … The venue for this annual forum could well be, for a start, the Russian Village Country House Center. Time - the last decade of September or the first decade of October, when the crop is harvested

Having passed the difficult path from the "devil's apple" to the "second bread", potatoes have become a reliable and real material basis for survival in a crisis situation, the future well-being and health of the Russian people. So, one wonders, did he not deserve the high respect he deserved? Isn't it time to give the "second bread" - truly national culture in our country - a more honorable place?