'Africans don't like potatoes'

About a month or so ago, while over at a friends, quite confidently, she said to me, 'Africans don't like potatoes'. The reason she made this statement was because I was cooking a few dishes for dinner that night, and my oven roasted herb potatoes (will definitely put it up the next time I make it) was one of them. She was cautioning me not to make too much.

This got me thinking. Although the statement is an obvious generalization (my sis loves potatoes, she claims they are her favorite vegetable), could the reason we are not crazy about them be that we feel potatoes are boring and usually there is not really much that we do with it. Often times, we simply boil it and eat it with stew.

I guess the texture/taste of a potato in the boiled form is quite boring. For example, my brother has no problem with mashed potatoes or fries, but something about it being boiled, does not quite interest him.

On the contrary friends, potatoes, can be fun!

There are quite a few simple side dishes that you can make with potatoes. Oven roast them chopped into bite size pieces with your favorite seasonings - Italian seasonings work great; mash them up with milk and butter, add a little sour cream for added yumminess; or do as I did a few days ago, thinly slice up the potatoes and bake them in a cheese sauce (Knorr makes a great three cheese sauce) in the oven for about 40 minutes, for a simple but delightful scalloped potatoes.

Calorie conscious, substitute milk with fat-free/low fat milk, and butter with low fat/cholesterol free spreads, and you won't even remember it's low fat.