Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew...

Last night, while out on the town, a friend and I were served raw potatoes as a side dish. "Don't eat them! Raw potatoes are dangerous to eat!" I warned. "How do you know that?" my friend asked. The truth is, I don't remember where I heard that eating potatoes raw is unhealthy. Maybe it was satan speaking to me in my dreams. He does that quite a lot. Him and Liberace. Anyway, I did some research and found this from http://www.healthypotato.com/nutrition/faq.asp:

Q. Is it safe to eat raw potatoes?
A. Yes. Some consider raw potatoes a nice treat.

But then I found this, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Dieting#Potatoes_and_raw_edibility

Potatoes are edible (if not very palitable) raw, but are slightly toxic. A few people do die from eating raw potatoes each year somewhere in the world but this is usually because they have been improperly stored and have started to sprout. It is in the eyes and the sprouting parts that the toxins are concentrated.

So I guess they potentially are dangerous, but the chance of dying from eating raw potatoes at a restaurant is almost nil.

The real question is, "why the fuck would anybody want to eat raw potatoes?" They're nasty like hell is hot.