A Potato Atlas

Wow Bodawei you're still a user after five years! This place sure does inspire loyalty. :)

还有： 地瓜

Thanks greenduckie, it's more than four years since I posted here (almost 5 years since the original post), but never too late for contributions.

This long list of words for potato did not include words for sweet potato, so thanks for hongshu. I am sure there will be many more. digua is possibly the most common. (sorry I cannot write characters at present).

Thank you Greenduckie for leading me to this awesome thread!!! I heart Chinesepod.....really....the community is awesome. It's making me want mashed potato though.

Hi Zhenlijiang, thanks again for the research. I do think it would be great if poddies from all over could give us the benefit of their experience, but it does not hurt to have some basic material from the likes of scientists like Mr Gitomer. He is (Max) Weberian in his fascination for socio-economic/cultural detail, as he should be of course; it's good stuff. I think I did take your comment in the spirit that you say it was made. :)

I think poddie comment on how the potato is eaten in various places would be interesting - Mr Gitomer has a bit to say on how the potato is eaten (or otherwise used) but it is a bit technical and 'dry'. Photos can certainly enliven the information.

I guessed 仔 for zai "children", and would have guessed as you did regarding fan, but it actually seems to be 番 (perhaps Mr. Gitomer got the characters wrong). I ran searches, got no hits for 繁仔薯 but got a lot of stuff for 番仔薯.

If you scroll down, on this page on 福州话 to Item 69, under 简单易学的143句福州话 there it is.

And here, in this document that I think is a paper on produce found in 福州 (but can't really tell; the page was taking forever to download for me and I gave up) you have:

马铃薯　俗称番仔薯(闽侯、福州)、洋芋(周宁等地)，属茄科，17世纪从美洲引入。清康熙版的《松溪县志》有载马铃薯，当时种植面积很小。1949年，全省种植面积为5万亩，总产3625吨。主要分布在高海拔山区的周宁、寿宁、泰宁、松溪、德化、大田等地。地方品种有周宁洋芋。50年代福州市魁岐乡有大面积栽培马铃薯，品种为红皮种和白皮种，1957年后耕作制改变，品种退化被淘汰。80年代以来，闽侯县青口镇青圃村从东北调种，利用冬闲田种植，面积3000～4000亩，亩产1500公斤，产值2000余元。1987年，福建省人民政府将马铃薯列为冬季一季作物加以推广。由于马铃薯在平原地区品种退化严重，需年年从东北黑龙江等地大量调种，调进的主要品种有米拉、克新3号、东北303等，每年调种量都在1200吨以上。1990年全省马铃薯种植面积633791亩，总产8455万吨。但主要仍为蔬食，每年有小量出口港澳地区。

By the way I wasn't being coy, with "don't know if this interests you at all". I wasn't sure, thought perhaps you wanted to do the fieldwork for this project yourselves (poddies from all over China) rather than get your hands on some data out there. But yeah though I don't find myself on the same wavelength exactly as you, I don't think you're crazy at all, for being so excited by this. （＾ｖ＾）

Useful! I just discovered that you have linked us to a whole book on potatoes in China, 191 pages. I will never be bored again. :) Well, Mr Charles Gitomer's 1996 contribution to the literature titled 'Potato and Sweetpotato in China' will of course be a .. er .. hum.. rich and valuable source for our Potato Atlas. I am just er.. editing his section on different names and their regions. Which unfortunately does not use 汉字 - I think I have everything except 繁 ？薯 fanzaishu (potato with many children) - any ideas? I am assuming 繁 rather than 番 because of the reference to 'many' children. Term used in Guangdong and Fujian.

呵呵, glad you find it useful!

Zhenlijiang - that is FANTASTIC! (I get excited easily.) I can't see how to copy and paste but I will transcribe by hand if necessary! That is exactly what I was looking for. My God, there are even more terms than I expected, and I suspect if we got into minority languages that the number of terms would multiply? Thanks very much.

I agree with you on 'mutated vegetables'....although I do remember learning that the Inca used to cultivate over 3,000 varieties of potato...so I guess it boils down to HOW these mutations are brought about.

That's all we need, more 'mutated vegetables' :) Speaking of mutations (and apologising for taking a detour from potatoes) I am attracted to the following comment:

'it was not much different in sweetness and smell, but tasted more "glutinous"' - there are some sweet corn around at the moment that could only be described as glutinous. :-( I think in general, or as a group, and it is a pretty big group, the Chinese are more adventurous than I am when it comes to vegetables,.

I like the four tone practice too. :)

...good point.It would be nice to have a list of such 4 tone words

I love that dish too!!!

嘿嘿 TAIWAN and only TAIWAN use 馬鈴薯! From 東北 to 福建 I've heard 土豆。

A guy from Taiwan did not even know the word 土豆 for potato until he moved to the U.S. When I went to Taiwan, I had to say 馬鈴薯 because 土豆 means "peanut".

I have no idea,but my guess would have been the similarity in shape some potatoes have to a bell rather than a transliteration

My father-in law, from Xiamen use 马铃薯 but to be honest he is the only native speaker I have heard using this word. All my Chinese friends use 土豆 in stead.

日本！ OK we're not Greater China haha. And it's not at all as common as the term usually used, ジャガイモ（じゃが芋）jaga-imo. Silly me, I always thought 馬鈴薯--pronounced ba-rei-sho--was a far-offish transliteration of "potato". Does anyone know the origin of this term by the way?

ma_tai

You are right of course - 马铃薯 is probably the first word offered in most dictionaries with 洋芋 as an alternative. My feeling is that 土豆 is more of a slang word for potato, but very common. Do you know where in China that people commonly use 马铃薯？ For the 'atlas'. :)

Hi Chanelle

The potatoes are generally like I am used to back home in Australia - although in Australia we would generally have about three varieties to choose from (apart from sweet potato) all year round. Also in Australia, in addition to the three normal size varieties, we have chats (tiny potatoes.) Here it is seasonal, and I have not seen chats.

Preparation:

1. Potato salad - chopped small and mixed with a dressing and spring onion. Served warm.

2. Mashed (Chinese) - in Australia we just mash them with butter and milk

3. Large chunks drizzled with sesame oil (that is actually my personal recipe - I don't know anyone else who does that)

4. Chopped into four or six and roasted in a flat pan in oil until golden brown - they do something similar in China and then drown it in chilli and other spices. With chats you do them whole or cut in half.

5. Roasted in large pieces with pumpkin, carrot, parsnip etc.

6. Chips - the best potato chips are made in Sichuan

7. Shredded fine and fried in oil. (Chinese)

8. Shredded fine, formed into pancakes and fried (Chinese)