In the 1500s, the Spanish went to South America to look for gold. There, they found people eating potatoes the people of Peru in South America had been eating potatoes for 7,000 years! The Spanish brought the potato back to Europe with them. But people in Europe did not like this strange vegetable. Some people thought that if you ate potatoes, your skin would look like the skin of a potato. Other people could not believe that you ate the underground part of the plant, so they ate the leaves instead. This made them sick because there is poison in the leaves. Others grew potatoes for their flowers. At one time in France, potato flowers were one of the most expensive flowers. Marie Antoinette, the wife of king louis XVI, wore potato flowers in her hair