around 1780 the people of Ireland started to eat to eat potatoes. they found that potatoes had many adventages. the potato grew on poor land and it grew well in their cold and rainy climate. It gave more food than any other plant and it needed little work. all they had to do was to plant the potatoes and than could do other work on the farm. on a small piece of land a farmer could do grew enough potatoes to feed his family. a person could eat 8 to 10 pounds of potatoes a day with some milk or cheese and be very healthy. soon potatoes became the main food in Ireland. then in 1845 a disease killed all the potatoes in Ireland. two million people died of hunger, Many Irish who did not die came to the United states at this time. Over a million Irish came to America one of them was the great-grandfather of john F Kenned