The lowly potato takes the spotlight.
The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is integrating potatoes in the Chinese diet by making them ingredients of steamed bread.
The country’s top three staples are rice, wheat and corn, and MOA is aiming to make potatoes take the fourth place. Since people consume bread every day, potatoes can become staple food.
Pan Wenbo, deputy director-general of MOA’s Cropping Management Department, said that the ministry has three reasons why it is making the potato another staple food.
First, Pan said that potatoes are good for the body and taste good, too. Second, he said that they don’t require large areas of land and quantities of water to produce compared to rice. Third, they are easy to prepare as a meal and continue to remain popular, which makes them just right for the fast-paced life of people in a contemporary society.
Potatoes are rich in nutrients and antioxidants. These root vegetables are good sources of vitamins C and B-6, potassium, fiber and magnesium.
Chaoyang-based Beijing Haileda Food Company is making steamed bread where 30 percent of the ingredients are potatoes. Some stores in Beijing are already selling Haileda’s potato steamed bread.
Haileda said that it will have its new bread product become available in 100 supermarkets, then it will increase that number up to 500 by September if the response of the consumers are positive.
Perhaps there are two things that can hamper the increase in sales for Haileda. First, Beijing News said that potato steamed bread costs more than wheat bread; and second, between the two, the latter is softer.
The 2015 Beijing World Potato Congress, held only once every three years, is scheduled from July 28-30 at the Badaling International Convention and Exhibition Center in Yanqing, Beijing.
The event appears to be of perfect timing because potatoes may still have a long way to go to be considered staple food in the country.