Potatoes Came From Tomatoes
Potatoes—you fry them, mash them, put them in tacos, or make ‘em papas locas at your local feria. But guess what, mi gente? Turns out your favorite starchy veggie has a fruity ancestor: the tomato.
Sí, lo leíste bien. En un nuevo estudio publicado in the journal Cell, scientists dropped a wild revelation: the potato—beloved by generations around the world—actually comes from a tomato ancestor that dates back 9 million years.
Let that sink in while you eat your fries.
🍅 Potatoes From Tomatoes: The Genetic Chisme
According to lead researcher Sanwen Huang from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, scientists have finally cracked the origin story of the modern potato—and it’s straight-up genética salvaje.
“We’ve finally solved the mystery of where potatoes came from,” Huang said.
The mystery starts in Chile, with a plant called Etuberosum. It looked like a potato but didn’t grow those tuber-heavy, carb-rich roots we all love.
Here’s where it gets loco:
Enter an ancient tomato that provided a crucial gene, SP6A, telling the hybrid plant to start forming tubers (those fat underground nuggets that become potatoes).
Etuberosum came in clutch with the IT1 gene, which controls the stem development.
Put them together? Boom. La papa moderna was born.
🧬 From Ancestry to the Aisle
The new research reveals how these two ancient plants created a hybrid over millions of years that eventually led to the modern-day potato—el favorito de todo el mundo.
Today, potatoes are:
Grown in over 125 countries
A $100 billion industry
A staple in cultures from Perú to Poland
And a cultural icon in Latin cuisine
Imagine telling abuela that her sopa de papa owes its existence to a tomato. Mind. Blown.
🥔 Potatoes in Chicano Culture
For the cultura, potatoes are more than food. They’re part of our memories, struggles, and stories.
Farmworkers in the U.S. Southwest spent generations planting and picking potatoes.
In Mexican-American kitchens, papas show up in tacos, flautas, gorditas, and guisos.
Even Chicano murals in places like East L.A. and Fresno include agricultural roots, honoring workers who harvested papas under el sol.
This new science doesn’t just tell us how potatoes evolved—it gives us deeper roots, a wild connection between la tierra y la cultura.
😮 Wait… Are Tomatoes Technically Potatoes?
Nah, not exactly. Tomatoes and potatoes are cousins in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), but this discovery reveals they’re closer than we thought—at least genetically.
Think of it like family:
Your cool, juicy cousin (tomate) who brings the salsa
Your thicc, starchy tío (papa) who holds down the asada
Now you know… they come from the same ancestral drama.
🌱 Why It Matters
This isn’t just a geeky science headline—this info could lead to:
Better potato crops
Drought-resistant hybrids
Higher yield farming
And preserving ancient agricultural wisdom
Especially in Latino and Indigenous communities where papas are part of daily survival and economic life, knowing this history is powerful.
“Our ancestors cultivated both potatoes and tomatoes for centuries,” said Dr. Karla Núñez, an ethnobotanist in Mexico City. “Now we know they’ve been linked since the beginning.”
Written by Vlixx Editorial Team
Sources:
CBS: Potatoes from tomatoes? Popular starchy vegetable derived from ancient interbreeding, researchers sayAfter earthquake and tsunami, volcano erupts in Russia’s far east
Inset Image Courtesy of eric socolofsky
– Creative Commons License
