Searching for the food of the future

The government is promoting the potato as China's 'fourth staple' to feed the world's most-populous nation and ensure security of supplies. Yang Wanli and Li Yingqing report from Kunming.

When people think of Chinese food, rice is often the first thing that springs to mind. That's despite the fact that there is a geographical dividing line between the wetter southern regions, where rice is the staple food, and the north, where grain is dominant. Corn, the third staple, straddles the line because it can be grown in any part of the country.

Now, faced with the world's largest population, which necessitates the importation of a huge range of foodstuffs, the Ministry of Agriculture is promoting the food of the future - the potato, a tuber that has long been part of China's culinary landscape, but is rarely used as a staple.