Conversation:

Potatoes were unknown in Japan in the 10th Century. Up to the 15th Century, they were restricted to the Americas.

Dammit, outspeeded by the Gnomon... I was just about to jump in with that but the fount of knowledge got there first.

*now wonders where she wrote about "Potatoes"*

I haven't looked at this Guide Entry for a while.

Not that I can do anything about it now.

Ah yes. Well, not being proficient on the topic of the pomme-de-terre, I can only hold my hands up and say "Oops"...

'The meals they took were based around a staple diet of white rice, rice mixed with millet, or potatoes, depending on what foods were available to them at the time, or the region that they lived in.
'

Third paragraph after 'History of Bento'

Is it only Irish people who carry an image in their heads of Sir Walter Raleigh presenting a pipe of tobacco and a potato to Queen Elizabeth?

Nope, some half-chinese do as well...

I'm not that educated enough to think of anything but a potato in the ground.

No, really.