It's fairly well known that it was hard to get europeans to really take to the potato when they first came across it
Here's my theory of why that was
It wasn't because the europeans were afraid of new foods, it was because they thought "oh, a new plant, wait, it's in the NIGHTSHADE family?! The same family of plants that has one just called DEADLY?! And you want us to EAT IT?!?!? FUCK. THAT. SHIT."
@mxsparks yep, also due to the leaves, the leaves of tomatoes and potatoes contain solanine which is toxic to humans
Not a lot of it, but enough to make a tomato leaf salad a bad idea
@troubleMoney I feel like this goes in the same chapter on people discovering hot peppers and eating them anyways
@troubleMoney weren’t tomatoes “known” to be poisonous for the same reason, for a while?