Introduction

‘What is this?’ an American visitor asked recently, indicating a row of plants growing in our kitchen garden and dotted with purple and white flowers in full bloom. That an adult should not be able to identify what is without doubt one of the world’s most important crops, was a shock. To look down on the flowers that Marie Antoinette had once worn in her hair, and not to know them, was this possible? Add to this the fact that the visitor’s existence on this planet had not a little to do with the one-time failure of the crop, which caused the great Irish famine that sent his ancestors on their diaspora to the New World, and the lack of knowledge was even more bewildering.