Potatoes come to UK & Ireland.

1597 Potatoes Come to the UK & Ireland: The potato started being grown in London by 1597, and soon became popular in Ireland and Scotland.Popularity for the potato came during the Industrial Revolution, when demand was created for cheap, energy-rich, non-cereal foods. Potatoes went on to become the basis for many peoples' essential nutrition around the world. When a fungus destroyed the potato crop in Ireland in 1845 the death toll of the infamous Irish Potato Famine was immense.