CHAPTER II 



THE POTATO AS FOOD 



DEFINITE knowledge in regard to the 

 world's greatest food crop is very meagre. 

 This is true not only of the mass of con- 

 sumers, but even doctors and cooks, who should 

 be well informed on every subject pertaining to 

 food. 



One of the greatest authorities on food in the 

 world is Dr. J. H. Kellogg, superintendent of the 

 Battle Creek Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Mich. 

 He has spent a lifetime in the study of the vari- 

 ous articles of food, his investigations covering 

 all possible sources of information, not only in 

 America, but in Europe. The following article on 

 **The Special Dietetic Virtues of the Potato," by 

 this foremost authority, is one of the best ever 

 written about the potato: 



"Soon after the potato was introduced into 

 Europe in the sixteenth century the ridiculous 

 notion somehow got afloat that the use of the po- 

 tato was the cause of leprosy, which at that time 

 was quite prevalent in most European countries. 

 The prejudice which was thus created against this 

 most valuable of all garden vegetables has never 

 been quite overcome. Various malicious libels 

 against the good name of this most innocent and 

 wholesome of foodstuffs are still afloat. Mul- 

 titudes believe the potato to be difficult of di- 



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