Gastronomy

New potatoes in town

by Brian Hanscom

You thought the Irish knew potatoes? They have potato pie, potato salad, potato whiskey, and who could forget, the potato famine. However, Maria Cron, owner of the newly opened Inca Roots: Natural Food for the Soul, on Congress Street, knows that Peruvians have the Irish beat when it comes to everyone's favorite tuber. In fact, compared with Peru's 3,500 native variants of potato, the Irish don't know jack.

The Peruvians have a long history of cultivating potatoes, starting with the Incas growing them some six hundred years ago and their modern-day descendents, the Quechua Indians, having almost a thousand different words for potato. It is even thought that the South Americans introduced the potato to England with a royal flair via the explorer Sir Francis Drake. Yes, the noble Peruvian spud boasts as many tastes as it does varieties, from bitter to sweet to nutty. Maria remembers types that you could eat without any condiment: "They are like cotton," Maria says of one style of potato. "They melt in your mouth. Nothing but a little bit of salt sometimes."

But you don't have to eat 'em nekkid if that's not your preference. Papa a la Huaninicia Potato Salad is a signature dish at Inca Roots and will add a bit of spice to the taste of your tater with a mustard and cream-cheese-based sauce, adding a little Peruvian yellow pepper to the sauce to give it a kick.

Maria is an émigré of Peru and has been living in Maine for five years now, part of that time on public assistance. Inca Roots was started with the help of a program called Start Smart, run by Costal Enterprises Inc., a nonprofit based out of Wiscasset that helps small businesses get off the ground. Start Smart was designed for people like Maria, émigrés and refugees who need a hand getting their business off on the right foot. Start Smart has helped 71 businesses get their start around the state, many of them based in Portland.

Cron is part of the small Peruvian community within the Latino community of 4000 in the Greater Portland area, but she stays in contact with Peruvians throughout New England. Inca Sapi, a Peruvian band based out of Boston, traveled north to play the restaurant's opening and to give Portland a taste of South American folk music to compliment the potatoes.