Spud lovers rejoice, for South Africa currently has too many potatoes. However, things aren't peachy for our humble potato.

The other night, as I was putting some potatoes into the air fryer to bake (and regretting that I hadn't yet read Tony Jackman on the subject) I couldn't help but wonder: who on Earth first realised that if you heat potatoes they're actually very good? I mean, if you happened to be walking along and tripped over a potato, your first thought would probably not be: "How nice would that be cut-up, fried in oil with a nice barbecue sauce?"

Instead you'd probably look at it and wonder how on Earth something could start ugly and if you left it for a few days, would just get uglier.

And it's a tuber. It's not like it comes in a shiny variety of colours like apples do. You also can't just pluck them from a tree and eat them, like so many fruits and berries.

Just the fact that something as mind-bogglingly convenient as a banana, which comes in a useful and brightly coloured carry case, actually exists is almost enough to make you believe in intelligent design.

And yet...