[originaltext] The potato is native to South America. It was probably first

The potato is native to South America. It was probably first brought to England by Sir John Hawkins, but attracted little interest, it was reintroduced by Drake in 1586. Sir Walter Raleigh first grew potatoes in Ireland. The potato was praised by Bacon, and was served at the Royal table by 1619. Ever since then it has been an important item of British diet, especially in Ireland; during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was the main food of the Irish, and there was starvation and famine when the crop failed, as it did in the 1840s. Also in Ireland, an illegal and very strong liquor called poteen is brewed from the potato.