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12 September this year was the 335th anniversary of the Relief of Vienna – the time when once again a wave of savages from the east crashed against the Polish breakwater protecting European civilization from its doom. And also the moment which saw (or heard) the famed Polish Winged Hussars' swansong. Or so, at least, I've been taught at school.

The fact is, as we can see, assertedly incontestable. So, assertedly, John III got a bag of potatoes from Emperor Leopold I in return for saving Vienna from the Turks. Because, you know, everybody knows the Poles love their spuds, so the Polish king must have been happy, right? Except that the Poles back then not only didn't love potatoes yet, they had absolutely no idea what they were. We don't know whether John was happy to receive such a magnificent gift, but we do know that he (assertedly) sent the taties to his wife, asking her to have them planted in their yard.

The man who actually planted them was the Wilanów gardener Paweł Wienczarek, who later transferred his potato-planting knowledge to his son-in-law, Jan Łuba. The latter is known for being the first in Poland (during the reign of the next king, Augustus II) to grow potatoes on a larger scale in his garden at Nowolipki near Warsaw and sell them as a luxury item to the royal and magnate kitchens. At least this is what [https://books.google.pl/books?id=1B5KAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA539 Orgelbrand's 1868 encyclopedia] says. Prof. Zalewski, already quoted above, adds that Łuba imported whole wagons of seed potatoes from Saxony, as the king "demanded a platter of potatoes (fried whole) with his every dinner", citing (wait for it) "a well-informed historian".

That's all for today, but do let me know in the comments section what you would like to read more about. Is it borscht, bagels or coffee? So long!

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