5. WAYS IN WHICH CONSUMPTION OF POTATOES HAS INCREASED

The question on the nature of the increase in consumption was again asked in two forms. First the informant was asked an open question - “In what way do you eat more potatoes?” Then the same question was prompted; each informant was asked whether she used any of the five ways recommended by the Ministry of Food to increase consumption: serve potatoes for breakfast - main potato dish one day a week - refuse second helpings of other dishes - serve in new ways - use prepared potatoes in place of flour.

The majority of those who increased their potato consumption have done so by either increasing helpings, or by cooking then more often in the old-fashioned ways- boiled, mashed, chips or fried. Only 7% say they have potatoes for breakfast, 3% have them as a main dish, and 1% use them with flour.

As was already stated, there is a risk that results from an open question might understate the facts, because some of the informants might forget some of the things they do. People who use more potatoes by eating them at breakfast, by mixing them with flour, or by serving bigger helpings, might only mention one or two of these ways, and forget the other. A certain check exists on the number of people who eat potatoes for breakfast. In an inquiry into what foods working-class people had on a typical day of the week, it was found that 3% had potatoes for breakfast. This suggests that the figure of 7% for housewives who say they serve potatoes for breakfast cannot be a great understatement.

Table 7 shows that only a third of the new ways in which potatoes were served could have been suggested by the campaign. It is doubtful that even this result was entirely due to the campaign; thus, the 7% who said they serve potatoes more often now might very well have been doing this from necessity rather than from the influence of propaganda.