3,000 Extra Tons of Potatoes Required for Euro 2008

There was almost a crisis at Euro 2008. But don’t worry, it’s been sorted now. Seems Switzerland were running low on potatoes, and there were genuine fears that the co-hosts would be unable to meet football fans’ insatiable demand for french fries.

We could have been looking at some serious french frie-related riots in the usually peaceful country.

But Swisspatat (the Swiss potato industry association, every country has one, probably) has been twisting the governments arm. And today the government announced that 5,000 extra tonnes of potatoes would be imported, with 3,000 tonnes to be used for french fries. Which is a lot of shredded, deep fat fried potatoes.

But it’s not all about making Euro 2008 supporters fat. Swisspatat (and how weird would it be if your job was to think up new and interesting ways to promote potatoes?) have come up with potato related recipes from the 15 other Euro 2008 nations. I think the idea is that rival fans meet and exchange potato based meals, which is an interestingly insane idea. The recipes are here in German, with the names of the dishes translated and pasted below, should you want to have your own Euro 2008 potato party:

Austrian potato dumplings
Swedish potato pot
Turkish oven potatoes
Czech potato “Tätschli”
Spanish-baked potatoes
Russian liver potato salad
Romanian Brutzel potatoes
Portuguese “potatoes in wine”
Mushroom potato Schmortopf from Poland
Potato salad from Holland
Croatian potatoes anchovy pan
Italian potato rouladen
Roesti moussaka (Greece)
Potato soup (Germany)
Crepes with asparagus Parmentier (France)