Super-heroes move over – here comes the potato! No more Mr Humble Potato. He now has his own World Potato Congress. And at the 7th congress in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March he had renowned food writers and even politicians calling him a food hero. Why?

• Potatoes are nutritious
• Potatoes are cheap
• Potatoes taste good and are incredibly versatile – think baked, boiled, mashed, scalloped and gnocchi (like pasta but it’s potato).
• Potatoes need little water to grow. One kilo of potatoes needs 75 litres, a kilo of wheat needs 500 litres and a kilo of rice needs 3000 litres of water to grow. If you are into saving the world’s water, choose potatoes!
• Potatoes are easy to grow. The Maori people know all about this. When Europeans brought the potato to New Zealand, life became sweet. No more toiling over the sensitive, tropical kumara that struggled in our cold, wet Kiwi climate. Potatoes were tough and hardy, and quickly became a staple food.

I’ve just got one little problem with potatoes. It’s when they are sliced really thin (or worse, crinkle cut, where there is more surface area) and deep fried in fat. Don’t kid yourself that a feed of fries is a great vegetable meal; there’s more fat than vegetable in there.

Now that he’s been elevated to food hero status, I think even Mr Humble Potato would only want to be associated with the more gourmet thick chunky chip – preferably ‘lightly fried in a heart-healthy oil’. Ah – that sounds so much better!