[noir_lord]

Potatoes (if you eat the skin) and milk would theoretically be a balanced diet, supplemented with fish/occasional meat it was pretty much the Irish diet pre-potato famine.

Boring as hell after a while but it'd keep you alive.

[marzell]

During the famine, ireland produced way more for/potatoes then it required to feed it's people; they were just taxed to all hell.

Currently the US produces about twice the calories it requires. There are so many calories produced in forms of corn that the industry has made huge efforts to find new ways to use those calories (hfcs, ethanol, etc) in order to justify corn industry practices. The one liner is that we need to be able to feed the people, but obesity is at an all time high. People need more nutrition, not more calories.

[bwilli123]

Taxes were not the main contributory factor. "Ireland continued to export large quantities of food, primarily to Great Britain, during the blight. In cases such as livestock and butter, research suggests that exports may have actually increased during the Potato Famine. In 1847 alone, records indicate that commodities such as peas, beans, rabbits, fish and honey continued to be exported from Ireland, even as the Great Hunger ravaged the countryside." https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/irish-potato-fami...

[marzell]

Thanks for the clarification. I was actually meaning that they were being "taxed" in terms of food sent to the rest of the UK and not in terms of money. Even with the article you linked, it's not clear to me if "exports" means they were forced/taxed into sending food, or if they were willingly exporting food for money in lieu of eating... Or something else

[Spooky23]

Most Irish didn’t own property and were tenants. They didn’t “export” in lieu of eating, the English landlord exported the fruits of their labor and left them to starve. The English were very concerned about the Irish and their moral fiber, so they allowed them to persevere rather than get hooked to charity.

Others couldn’t pay their rent and were evicted. Millions of Irish didn’t flee to the slums of NYC, etc for kicks.

[thefringthing]

For this reason the Great Famine is sometimes characterized as a genocide perpetrated by the British landlord class.

[bitdizzy]

> they were willingly exporting food for money in lieu of eating...

The "they" who decided to export were not the "they" who starved.

[CryptoPunk]

Ireland could not affordably import food, due to the Corn Laws.

[bane]

You can also get pretty complete with potatoes and oatmeal.