THE POTATO AND ITS SUBSTITUTES Never did it seem truer that "blessings brighten as they take their flight" than when the potato went off the market or soaring prices put it out of reach in the winter of 1917.

"How shall I plan my meals without it ?" was the housewife's cry.

"How shall I enjoy my meals without it ?" said all the millions of potato eaters who immediately forgot that there was still a large number of foods from which they might extract some modicum of enjoyment.
And so the Nutrition Expert was asked to talk about "potato substitutes" and expected to exercise some necromancy whereby that which was not a potato might become a potato.

Now, the Nutrition Expert was very imperturbable--not at all disturbed by the calamity which had befallen our tables.

That unfeeling person saw potatoes, not in terms of their hot mealiness and spicy mildness, but in terms of that elusive thing called "DIET." The vanishing tuber was bidden to answer the dietary roll-call: "Proteins ?" "Here!" Answer somewhat faint but suggesting remarkable worth.
"Fats ?" No answer.
"Carbohydrates ?" Loud note from "Starch." "Mineral salts ?" "Here!" From a regular chorus, among which "Potassium" and "Iron" easily distinguishable.
"Vitamines and "Here! Here!" Especially vociferous, the Other Accessories ?" "Anti-Scorbutic Property." "This is a good showing for any single food material.