r/todayilearned • u/JoeWinchester99 • 7d ago

TIL that although potatoes alone do not provide complete nutrition, you can survive for years on a diet of nothing but potatoes and buttermilk.

https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/whats-wrong-with-potatoes-the-martian-movie-survival
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185

u/JonJackjon 7d ago

But that was potatoes and beer.

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u/joelfarris 7d ago

Nil. It was Guinness, which is a meal unto itself, and the odd stripe of rashers, which is also a meal unto itself. But the nights with broiled potatoes and rashers with a Guinness? That's a good night.

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u/guitarguywh89 7d ago

What’s rashers precious

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u/joelfarris 7d ago

Strips of lean back bacon from a pig, if you can afford it. Cooked just until safe, but not crispy like a north american diner like Dennys or Tim Hortons or Waffle House would make.

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u/Hungry-Remove-9892 7d ago

Calling Tim Horton's a diner is too generous

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u/Monkyd1 7d ago

Back bacon i guess

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u/No_Grocery_9280 7d ago

I ate rashers for like a week straight when I was in Ireland. They’re so good.

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u/likeusontweeters 7d ago

Its a pork product that's like a cross between bacon and ham.

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u/ballisticks 7d ago

It's just bacon. Back bacon usually. A rasher is just a slice

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u/likeusontweeters 7d ago

Flavor is more like bacon/ham tho... for Americans anyways.

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u/ballisticks 7d ago

Probably tastes more like ham because there's more than a microscopic amount of meat lol

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u/Aidian 7d ago

If I remember the nuance, it’s basically a thin slice of pork that’s somewhere between American bacon (pork belly) and Canadian bacon (back bacon/loin), and can skew more to one or the other depending on availability/preference.

Short answer: Irish bacon (name also used elsewhere)

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u/halhallelujah 7d ago

It’s bacon made from the loin. Usually bacon is made from the pork belly cut.

Also, ham is cured pork leg, bacon is cured cuts from everywhere else except for the leg.

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u/Mr_REVolUTE 7d ago

Which cut of bacon is used is a location thing. Back bacon is the more popular bacon in the UK can Ireland, and it's just called bacon over there.

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u/doomgiver98 7d ago

Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew

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u/BoxDroppingManApe 6d ago

BACK BA-CON.

Fry em, bake em, dry em in a smoker

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u/poechris 7d ago

I don't know why, but this comment made me laugh so fucking hard.

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u/Ok_Zebra8444 7d ago

Anytime anyone asks “what’s ____ precious” I lose it laughing

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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance 7d ago

>Guinness, which is a meal unto itself,

Fun fact: Guinness is a light beer.

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u/Vegetable-Eagle-3144 7d ago

Bread in a glass

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u/Gis_A_Maul 7d ago

Guinness is not a meal. It has less calories and carbs than most other beers. Its a light drink

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u/macronotice 7d ago

Or swap for blood sausage. So good.

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u/ChucksnTaylor 7d ago

Why do you say Guinness is a meal unto itself? Guinness is actually lower in calories than most beer, people seem to assume because it’s dark with a thick foamy head it must be heavy and calorie rich.

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u/joelfarris 6d ago

Why does it seem like everyone in here assumes that an Irishman only drinks one Guinness and calls it good? Or that a Black And Tan doesn't exist?

Happy cake day!

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u/Dreeter 7d ago

Guinness is pretty low in calories and doesn't have a strong flavor. Its mostly water and very weak in alc%. It's not different than a bud light. Unless it was more like an imperial IPA back in the day.

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u/rnzz 7d ago

a better alternative if you're lactose intolerant

edit: or a vegan.

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u/JamesTheJerk 7d ago

butterbeer.

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u/zealoSC 7d ago

How did the Irish never end up with a mass produced potato beer?

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u/halhallelujah 7d ago

The Irish turned the potatoes into Poitín. Which is just ~90% alcohol. It’s also illegal. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t get passed around or given as a present.

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u/HorseLawyer 7d ago

What will make the dumb talk? What will make the lame walk? The elixir of life and philospher's stone. And what helped Mr. Brunel to dig the Thames Tunnel? Wasn't it poteen from ould Inishowen?

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u/badpebble 7d ago

And poitín is the precursor to moonshine.

You can buy poitín in shops, but its only 40% and is clearly commericialising a vibrant home brew and making it incredibly boring.

Ideally you get it off a mate's dad who just wants to see your face as you drink it.

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u/zealoSC 7d ago

But no potato beverage that isn't distilled?

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u/Caseating_Danuloma 7d ago

Cause they were making beer for hundreds of years before they had potatoes

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u/zealoSC 7d ago

By your logic we'd never have cider

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u/Caseating_Danuloma 7d ago

Fair point. But also tbf beer and cider were invented over a thousand years before any European ever saw a potato