When life gave a German farm 5 million pounds of potatoes, it shared the spuds for free. Named the Kartoffel-Flut (potato flood), after the highest yield in 25 years,This German farm’s potato harvest surplus prompted a massive giveaway last month. Truckloads of spuds were donated to soup kitchens, schools, zoos, churches, Ukrainian aid efforts, and distribution sites for Berlin residents.
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Dubbed “the great potato rescue,” the bonanza aimed to prevent food waste after Germany’s largest potato crop in 25 years overwhelmed markets and sent costs down. So the farm, Osterland Agrar, teamed up with a Berlin newspaper and the nonprofit search engine Ecosia to set up 174 sites around the city, where people could stock up on tubers.
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“At first I thought it was some AI-generated fake news when I saw it on social media,” Astrid Marz, a teacher, told The Guardian. “There were pictures of huge mountains of ‘earth apples’ with the instruction to come and get them for free!” Another local described one of the sites as having “a really party-like atmosphere,” with people helping one another haul their freebies while swapping cooking tips.
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If reading this is making you hungry, check out this thorough list of potato recipes, including how to boil ’em, mash ’em, and stick ’em in a stew.

‘what I say is that, if a fellow really likes potatoes,

he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.’

– A. A. Milne

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source credits: the guardian, nicenews, photo credit: john woitas