Why do Americans eat potatoes with the skin?

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Shrager, Miriam wrote:

> Dear All,
> 
> The exchange of messages on the SEELANGS reminded me that when I came
> to the US I asked myself the same question, but in a reverse order:
> "Why do Americans eat potatoes with the skin?". I visited several
> countries before I came here and I've never seen potatoes eaten with
> the skin. In Russia even when we ate new potatoes we only cooked them
> with the skin, "v mundire", but after they were cooked we usually
> peeled them and added butter and dill. I heard that in the 80's in
> Russia some people started to eat potatoes with the skins for the
> vitamins, but it was something unusual and exotic. After all, besides
> vitamins there might me residue from all the fertilizers and 
> pesticides. So, I personally prefer to peel potatoes, but each one
> has his own habits and tastes.

The term you seek is "converse" (of a proposition). E.g., the converse 
of "X is true" is "not X is not true."

Be that as it may, as a child I was served potatoes without the skin on 
the assumption that (because I was a child) I would not like them with 
the skin, but both parents (from different cultural backgrounds) 
routinely ate them whole, and when I inquired they happily allowed me to 
do so as well.

I can understand how someone from a culture where potato skins are 
associated with dirt, mold, toxins, etc. would be disgusted, but here in 
America we have no such association, and I've seen many conversations 
where the choice was regarded as a matter of personal taste (do you or 
don't you like the flavor and texture?). If a Russian protested to me 
that what I was doing was disgusting, my initial reaction would be, 
"What do you mean? What's the big deal? I eat apple skins, too." And I 
know a few people who eat the skins of sweet potatoes (often mistermed 
"yams") as well, but that isn't my preference, so I leave them aside. No 
harm, no foul.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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