Now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories.

Food expressions are popular with language learners. They combine two things important to every culture: food and language.

Today we are going to talk about spuds, a nickname for potatoes!

First of all, potatoes have been around for a very long time. In the food magazine Bon Appetit, Sam Dean writes about the beginnings of the potato. He explains that the common white potato came from Peru at least 7,000 years ago. Potatoes fed the Incan empire and other cultures in Peru at that time.

The Pacco family eats dinner after harvesting potatoes in Paru Paru, in the Cusco region of Peru, May 26, 2016.

These days, most countries use a type of potato in their cooking.

Whether you like them boiled, baked, mashed or fried – potatoes are what we call a staple. This means they are a basic food that you can build on. You can cover them in gravy, butter, salt and pepper or sour cream and herbs.

And for people who eat pork, you have not lived until you have eaten a baked potato topped with melted cheese and crispy bacon. Mm-mm. Yum!

Speaking of meat on top of potatoes, let's go back to the idea of potatoes being a simple, basic food.

We have a potato expression to describe a person like that: simple, basic, common. If someone is a meat-and-potatoes kind of person, they prefer eating simple meals such as – well, meat and potatoes. They are not interested in complex, fancy food. They are unpretentious.

Men are often described by this expression. When I hear about a meat-and-potatoes man, I picture a big, beefy guy. He likes to wear blue jeans and a simple t-shirt. He probably drives a truck and can fix it himself. He is a simple, no-nonsense kind of guy.

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Words in This Story

spuds – n. an informal name for potato

nickname – n. a usually descriptive name given instead of or in addition to the one belonging to a person, place, or thing

empire – n. a group of territories or peoples under one ruler

staple – n. the chief part of something : "Potatoes are the staple of their diet."

unpretentious – adj. not having or showing the unpleasant quality of people who want to be regarded as more impressive, successful, or important than they really are

beefy – adj. heavily and powerfully built

down-to-earth – adj. practical and sensible

controversial – adj. relating to or causing much discussion, disagreement, or argument

have bigger fish to fry – phrase have other (or more important) matters to attend to

trivial – adj. of little worth or importance