Using art history to explore society's changing connections with agriculture

Societal Impact Statement Food insecurity is a looming challenge that especially affects those least fortunate. Consumer food choices have a substantial impact on the sustainability of current food systems. Here, we use art as a lens through which to consider our contemporary and historical relationship to one of the world's most crucial crops, the potato, in the context of the perceived current disconnection between consumers and food production systems. Our analysis reveals that people's relationship with the potato has varied through history, dependent on time and place. Our study serves as proof of principle that social art history can provide a valuable historic benchmark for contemporary studies that consider society's current relationship with food and agriculture. Summary Climate change and food insecurity demand us to re‐evaluate our perspectives on agriculture and our relationship with food and our planet. In a global food system, choices made by consumers have significant impacts on the sustainability of food systems. There is a widely held view that consumers in high‐income countries are disconnected from the way their food is produced and food choices are commonly made without an understanding of their environmental consequences. How such a disconnection may have evolved over time is difficult to measure. Societal attitudes are often reflected in the art of the time. Thus, art provides a fascinating lens through which to evaluate society's connection to its sources of food. We have taken the potato as an example of an important global crop and examined its portrayal in a variety of historical art forms to gain an understanding of how cultural perceptions of food have changed through time. By focusing on a subset of well‐known art works, we demonstrate that historical art can indeed offer a unique longitudinal perspective on changing cultural perceptions. We compare artworks ranging from first millennium Moche pottery, where the potato was heralded as sacred, to contemporary works, where it is presented as a source of comedy as often as a source of nourishment. Nineteenth‐century European art depicts the potato as a representation of authentic rural living, whereas in the 20th century, it became an object of propaganda. Art therefore represents a rich source of information that can enable novel studies of food systems across time and space.