I find it appalling when people refuse to eat an entire potato when it is presented whole (baked, of course), specifically leaving the skin behind, but then do cartwheels over the mad potato skin appetizers at TGI Fridays or other neighborhood bar and grills. I understand sometimes the skin may exhibit localized non-conformances (i.e. sprouts), but this is no a reason to shrug off the entire peel. I think it may possibly be a class or societal mindset, as if when you are eating a baked potato whole then out of respect for the formal circumstances in which it may be served (wedding, bar mitzvah, or intervention) the polite act is to not eat the skin. Much like how you're expected not to slurp soup directly from a bowl or to spoon Slurpees from a cup.
I wonder if the potato skin industry arose out of people leaving these scraps behind on their plates. The chefs later realizing the huge opportunity when scads of skins came rolling back, perfectly scooped of their starchy entrails, ready to be filled with cheesy and bacony heaven then sent right back out again on a platter labeled as a Happetizer (TM). Because really, if you are going to try to convince somebody to eat something that they wouldn't normally, mounds of cheese and bacon will normally do the convincing. Hell, the mounds of butter and sour cream that the spud originally housed couldn't pull off the trick. But with cheese and bacon, well, look out!
The same disrespect carries into the mashed potato world, as well. Most people are turned off by the site of skin chunks mixed in with their creamy whipped side dish. Not me, I love them! I say the more the merrier! I would create a potato skin donation initiative just to fuel my obsession but I'm worried that this would place a huge and untimely burden on our already strapped US Postal Service. (Clarification: my mashed skins gotta be red, the gray ones, well, you can't really mash them very well due to physical limitations).
It's not like potato skins (peels, whatever) are anything that great by themselves. They counter the texture and taste of the contents inside and are meant to be enjoyed simultaneously. This means, don't just scoop out all the insides without touching the skins until the end. Because then you will surely never eat them. Much like how when you eat pizza, when you get close to the crust, save some saucy, cheesy border to be enjoyed while you munch on the end. No, so many people, many of them the same with potato skin bias, nibble all the way to the end then pitch the crust. If anything besides subtle disrespect for mother nature, this represents careless chow management.
However, despite the global disinterest in the hearty skin, one little part of the world, at least, still appreciates and eats them. Either that or the locals from neighboring communities thought it would be funny to label them as such. I speak of Donegal, PA (pronounced "den-a-gaul, pee eh"). According to my gram, who can be short on many thoughts these days but who is never short on wisdom, the old saying of this Appalachian stop off the PA turnpike goes "Donegal, where they eat the potato skins and all!" Honest. I've heard this numerous times from my family, who great up in the nearby towns but never in Donegal. I think this also came up in a impromptu internet search once, so that cements it as lore.
Maybe someday folks will all wake up and realize that, just like in Rudolph, there is a Land of Misfit Food Scraps, and that somewhere somebody (not necessarily from Appalachia) would still love to eat them. Then their true compassionate, and jealous, side would kick in and make them realize that they shouldn't let some stranger have their skins, that they should enjoy them all for themselves. And as a bonus, the gesture would finally grant them admission into the Clean Plate Club.
