A NEGLECTED PLANT 
has been that a baked dasheen has more flavor and is 
more palatable than a baked potato. It has a sort of 
nutty flavor that is pleasing. Most people who have 
eaten them say that they consider them better than 
potatoes. 
But the dasheen does not come into use. There is prob¬ 
ably no reason for this other than the difficulty in dis¬ 
placing something that is established with something 
new. The people who live in temperate countries have 
their food habits. One of these is the eating of potatoes. 
These take care of the need of a food of this class. They 
are always in the markets. They are satisfactory. There 
seems to be no reason for changing to this strange food 
which one would probably have much trouble in getting. 
It was with great difficulty that potatoes, 250 years ago, 
found a place in the diet of Europeans. To-day corn on 
the cob and grapefruit are almost unknown in Europe. 
Hollanders grow mutton for the British but will not eat 
it themselves. To Jews and Mohammedans the pig is 
unclean. Millions of people south of the Mediterranean 
regard dried grasshoppers as a delicacy, but this food is 
scorned farther north. Meat shops in Italy take pride in 
advertising horseflesh for sale, but the idea would not 
appeal to Americans. 
The food of the tropics takes hold slowly farther north. 
It is always there as a reserve supply, however, and if a 
time arrives when a dense world population needs to 
utilize these spaces for its maintenance, they will be' 
available. 
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