Padraic X. Scanlan

“The Irish moral economy was only as old as the potato itself—it was not an ancient way of life but an adaptation to conquest and capitalism. The potatoes given as charity during the day were sometimes stolen back at night. A poor farmer taking conacre was expected to give potatoes without an eye on his own inventory, but widespread theft of potatoes shows that open-handed generosity could have been genuine but could also have been an act to save face and preserve a good name. Or it could have been both. Human beings struggle with contradiction far less than the social sciences predict. [...] The gift economy of the potato was both beyond the market and profoundly influenced by market pressures—for land, for food security, and for rent.”
― Padraic X. Scanlan, Rot: An Imperial History of the Irish Famine