Why do Russians eat potatoes without the skin?

[Josh Wilson]

Anybody else find this conversation a bit odd (at least in the passion that
people are putting into potato skins)? 

Just as a personal note - this was one of the "culture clashes" that came up
between my Russian wife and me. Being from Idaho, where people pick up
potatoes from the field, wipe them off on their jeans, and crunch in, I
always eat the skin. Even a thick skin to me is tasty - particularly dipped
in cheese or sour cream. When I was a kid, Keebler Co. had something called
"Tater Skins" - potato chips made from the potato skin. I was sad to see the
line eventually discontinued. 

The potato skin is a source of highly concentrated nutrients - the average
skin of a baker potato contains about 20% of your daily iron, copper, and
vitamin B-6. Tossing it means missing 10% of your daily potassium, a good
amount of fiber, and lots of other goodies. 

My wife generally saw the skin, especially from a baker potato, to be just
yucky. 

Generally, we have come to appreciate how the other cooks - I make sure to
scrub the potato thoroughly and although she does still chop off a skin she
thinks is too thick, she does not look askance when I eat them off her
plate. 

Sincerely, 

Poor Idaho Farmboy

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Michele A. Berdy
Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 9:20 PM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Why do Russians eat potatoes without the skin?

> What I find surprising is that in a country which has known so much 
> hunger,
> a food product is being wasted.
>
Forgive me if I am being presumptuous -- always a danger in this kind of 
communication -- but I think this is a question of country-specific 
agriculture. Or region-specific. Or something. That is, in Russia of old, 
and especially in prisons, and sometimes even today, a potato peel can be a 
filthy, rotted, bruised, yucky, nitrite- and other fertilizer-laden, mostly 
inedible thing. It's also not filling the way a potato is. It's not the most

nutritious, vitamin-filled part of the potato. It's more: eat at your own 
risk. (I learned this from my Russian husband in the 1980s, when I thought I

knew a lot about vitamins. It was an excellent lesson in "when in Rome...")

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