Britannica
Sources used in this answer
How many potatoes did a typical cottier family consume each day before the Great Famine?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Great Famine
Famine (1997), sculpture by Rowan Gillespie commemorating the Great Famine; in Dublin.
Before the Great Famine, a typical cottier family consumed about eight pounds of potatoes per person each day. This high level of consumption provided approximately 80 percent or more of their total daily caloric intake.1