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Comment by bdcravens | Hacker News Reader

All we need is a bunch of potatoes, but don't figure to have a healthy stock of ketchup on board.

Maybe, but if the colonists keep sending video diary messages while talking with their mouths full, I vote we just leave them up there.

BizarroLand wins the award for getting the joke (reference to the movie "The Martian"). Please forgive my taste for very nuanced humor. :-)

Potatoes aren't enough by themselves, you need dairy to hit all the nutritional requirements.

Why do you think so?

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/potato-butter-diet/

Could keep you alive long enough but eventually you'd want some other nutrients.

Maybe there's a joke here that I'm not aware of, but my question was mostly why they think dairy is necessary. I do believe that potatoes isn't enough, but you don't need dairy products.

In the movie "The Martian" Matt Damon grew potatoes on Mars. Lived off of them and ketchup for a long time, and the ketchup ran out.

lol I wondered how long it would be before someone got it

> you don't need dairy products.

You generally need animal products for B12, but you can use supplements, I think. B12 deficiency can take a year or more to manifest severe symptoms.

you still haven't properly implemented nachos.

There doesn't seem to be any single food that is alone nutritionally complete, but potatoes are certainly one of the closest... many people seem to do well with just potatoes for a month or two. A few supplements (B12, etc.) would likely allow potatoes to work long term.

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