Thank goodness these things didn't get imported into Ireland. They would have replaced wheat, oats, and barley, and lead to more damned pastureland. Ireland became a very prosperous nation in the 19th Century thanks to the wise use of agriculture; something as cheap and non nourishing as a patata would have been a disaster.
Jonathan Wells' Modern Proposal! (That was the plot, and it ended up with the English raising mindless Irish cattle.)