# Why no Potato in Irish Potatos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2001, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213 "2001-03-16T13:32:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/1 "2001-03-16T13:32:47Z")
I love to bring this question up to my Irish friends every year, the ones who bleed green. And all I get is strange stares. I grew up in a neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA) that was mostly Irish and Italian. As an Italian, I would love to pose this question to my Irish friends. After hundred upon hundreds of inquiries, not one Irishman has provided an answer, or even an educated guess. Nothing… silence and stares…and this is before they start drinking. 🙂 My guess is that the potato-starved Irish Americans - fresh out of Potatos due to leaving Ireland as a result of the great potato famine - conjured up a “potato” from whatever they could. Throw some cinnamon on the outside to mimic the old dirty rough skin, and…voila! Potato! Any help? Searches give tons o’ recipes and famine info. Signed “McPhilster” ---
**Author:** ![ColdPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ColdPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/2 "2001-03-16T13:58:36Z")
I’m Irish and I’ve never heard of Irish potatoes (apart from the vegetable). Maybe it’s an Irish American thing? ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/3 "2001-03-16T14:37:44Z")
Irish, from Dublin and have never heard of it. I’d go along with **jonnyb** and say it’s Irish-American. What’s a Irish Potato BTW? The only ones I’m familiar with are the ones I have every Sunday when I go home to the Ma’s and have me Sunday diner 😉 ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/4 "2001-03-16T14:52:37Z")
From [http://www.cookierecipe.com/AZ/IrishPotatoes.asp](http://www.cookierecipe.com/AZ/IrishPotatoes.asp) > [@](#): > > **"Small, no-bake cookies that look like potatoes. It’s fast and easy."** I’d guess they’re called that because they LOOK like potatoes, nothing more. Somehow, I doubt the Irish would call them “Irish Potatoes” themselves–if they even had any part in creating the cookies in the first place. Seems like something a bunch of silly (non-Irish) Americans would name them. ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/5 "2001-03-16T15:20:41Z")
Sounds like for the exact opposite reason why there is no rabbit in Welsh Rabbit. In one case, the Welsh supposedly like cheese so much they’d rather eat it than meat, so a bunch of cheese on toast is called “rabbit.” In the other case, the Irish supposedly love potatoes so much in order to get them to eat a cookie, you have to call it a potato. See also Dutch Treat. This is in contrast to Polish Sausage and Mexican Standoff, which actually contain real meat products and deadlocks, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/6 "2001-03-16T16:45:08Z")
I’m Irish American, with ancestors that came to New York in the 1840s and 1870s, and with a lot of Irish culinary traditions that have been retained by my family. I have never heard of cookies called “Irish Potatoes,” so my guess is that it is a recent cutesy coinage. It seems to me it’s not even a real Irish-American thing. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/7 "2001-03-16T16:58:53Z")
Similarly, there is always “Die Eier von Satan” (a Tool song w/ vocals by the guy from Einsturzende Neubauten): [English translation:] > [@](#): > > The Eggs of Satan > > Half a cup of powdered sugar > One quarter teaspoon salt > One knifetip Turkish hash > Half a pound butter > One teaspoon vanilla-sugar > Half a pound flour > 150 g ground nuts > A little extra powdered sugar > … and no eggs > > Place in a bowl > Add butter > Add the ground nuts and > Knead the dough > > Form eyeball-size pieces from the dough > Roll in the powdered sugar > and say the Magic Words: > “Sim sala bim bamba sala do saladim” > > Place on a greased baking pan and > Bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes > …AND NO EGGS > > Bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes > …and no eggs. If you’ve ever heard the song, it’s truly the world’s scariest recipe. UND KEINER EIER! (PS–mods: Let me know if this quote is verboten … I don’t think the translation of the lyrics is copyrighted, but I could be wrong. Don’t want to get SDMB into trouble.) ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/8 "2001-03-16T17:53:42Z")
The only ‘Irish Potatoes’ I know of are a West Indian dish from Jamaica or other parts of the British influenced Carribean Islands- potatoes, herbs and spices, roasted in animal fat. Had them cooked for me by Carribean staff who I worked with. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/9 "2001-03-16T17:53:58Z")
Sounds like City Chicken-which is breaded pork or beef bite size pieces skewered on a stick. It’s disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/10 "2001-03-16T23:56:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by toadspittle \* > \*\* (PS–mods: Let me know if this quote is verboten … I don’t think the translation of the lyrics is copyrighted, but I could be wrong. Don’t want to get SDMB into trouble.) \*\* Full confession time: I haven’t the faintest idea in the **Cecil** damned world what the legality is here. If someone else translated it for some official purpose, I suppose they probably have a copyright on it. If that’s the case, let me know (and supply a link), and I’ll redact the lyrics above. Otherwise, I guess I’ll just leave it. Thank you for asking. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2001, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/11 "2001-03-17T01:04:07Z")
> [@](#): > > In one case, the Welsh supposedly like cheese so much they’d rather eat it than meat, so a bunch of cheese on toast is called “rabbit.” I think the suggestion behind Welsh rabbit is that a Welshman is not competent to catch a rabbit and must therefore content himself with cheese. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/12 "2001-03-17T01:57:58Z")
Hmmm. **Philster** couldn’t be Dan Quayle’s alias, could it? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-in-irish-potatos/58213/13 "2001-03-17T02:34:16Z")
**Philster** We’re all waiting for you to reply to the posts that have been made so far. It might have helped if you had said more directly that you were referring to a cookie, or something. What kind of thingy were you referring to as “Irish Potatos[sic]?”