Potato Filled Folklore

There are many a wives tale about the potato; some may be true others superstitions whilst others are downright bizzare! Here are my top favourites:

1. To cure toothache, carry a potato in a pocket on the same side of the tooth. As the potato dries, the toothache will fade.

2. Soothe and extract the heat from sunburn or a burn with a raw potato cut in half.

3. Similarly, use slices of raw potato to refresh puffy eyes. This is particularly effective after tears.

4. Pregnant women shouldn't eat potatoes, especially at night, if she wishes her child to have a small head.

My understanding is that these tall-tales or popular beliefs are simply traditions of certain culture or subcultures. They may work or they may be simply farcical, that’s up to the superstitious individual who I guess must receive some sort of psychological comfort adhering to their superstitions. Others I’m sure believe them to be a load of old nonsense. That’s up to you.

Potato Propaganda

'Lest we Forget'

Also during wartime, potatoes and other vegetables were described as excellent sandwich fillings. Raynes Minns writes within his book Bombers & Mash: The Domestic Front 1939-45, (1980) that “[p]otato consumption rose by 15 percent and ministerial advice to caterers concerning nutritional values in wartime diets was clearly set out in MOF pamphlets.” (Minns, 1980 p. 118)

Minns includes examples of ‘potato propaganda’ used within Ministry of Food pamphlets which I have listed below.

“1. Potatoes:

1. An essential energy food full of vitamin C and essential vitamins throughout the year.
2. Serve large helpings if meat amounts are small.
3. Use in pastry, scones and cakes.
4. Use mashed potato flan cases and pie coverings.
5. Use potatoes as the basis of all dishes.
6. Mix with meat rissoles, fish, sandwich spread etc.
7. Serve baked potatoes stuffed with vegetables as snacks.
8. Use grated raw potato in place of half your suet in steamed puddings and suet pastry.
9. Serve potato pancakes and scones for tea, not buns and cakes.

2. Increase the potions of green vegetables and carrots if the supply of protein is small. Serve two vegetables as well as potatoes, the greener the better.  

3. Raw carrots added to steamed puddings and cakes will help to sweeten them.

4. Serve well-flavored mashed potatoes as sandwich fillings.” (Minns, 1980 p. 118)


Minns, R. Bombers & Mash: The Domestic Front 1939-45. London: Virago, 1980.

Here's Spud in you Eye!

Below is a short clip I found on potatoes during WWII.

Because they're easily grown and nutritious, potatoes weren't particularly rationed. In fact they were plentiful!

(Please note: no one hurt their eye in the process of making this short film.)

Imperialwarmuseum, (2010) Here's Spud in your Eye! [Youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRDFB238MKE April 10th 2012

"What I say is that, if a fellow really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow."

A. A. Milne (1882-1956), popular children's author.

Hot Potato Fact

During WWII, The Minister of Food Frederik Lord

Woolton declared that fish and chips were not to

be rationed! Our love of chips started in the 19th

century. They are first recorded in an 1854

cookbook called ‘shilling Cookery’ by a leading

British cook. He describes thin potatoes cut in oil.

Planning Ahead & Planning Meals

Sign just above enterance.

Last week I decided to take a trip to the British Library, Euston to see what I could dig up on potato literature. Not really thinking ahead and acting on a whim I made my way to north London. It was my first visit to the library and I was immediately taken by the architecture. Anyway, I was informed by a receptionist that I had to go through registry and get a readers pass before I was able to view the books. When I got to the registration office I knew my trip was wasted. Apparently you have to bring all sorts of identification including a signature ID, proof of billing address and student ID. I left rather embarrassed at my lack of planning with an ‘Introduction to the British Library and how to register for a Reader’s Pass’ pamphlet tucked out of sight.

Yesterday I returned to the library fully confident that I would obtain a reader’s pass and gain access to the books. I was mistaken. I received my reader’s pass (valid for three months mind you) but failed to get a look at the book I wished to see after looking it up before hand: Hard-Time cookery (1940). I was told the book would take ‘some time’ to arrive but I couldn’t wait around as I had work to go to in Essex. My trip was again unsuccessful, but I still have my readers pass and can return again. Moral of this short story: always plan ahead!



 Hard Time Cookery, p. 6-7.



I didn’t want my trips to Euston to be spent in vain so now, back in London I am currently doing further research upon the book I wanted to see.

From the British library’s website: http://www.bl.uk/ I am able to read a short overview and passage from the text, which in hindsight I should have done this morning. The book is called Hard Time Cookery and was published in 1940 by the Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects (now the National Association of Teachers of Home Economics). On page 7 there is a fine description on ‘The Importance of Panning Meals’. The meal mentioned consists of liver and bacon, potatoes and tomatoes or cabbage’ – more commonly known in Ireland as ‘pigs ass and cabbage’ which I must admit I look forward to when I go home (drowned in gravy!).

Imperial War Museum

Cookery guidance books such as this one were only the beginning. With a system of rationing put in place in 1940 by the Ministry of Food more and more flyers and pamphlets were given to the British public to educate them of the importance of nutrition. Great care was taken to composing the information as nutritionists delivered significant information on which foods were important for energy and repair.

On a recent trip to the Imperial War Museum, I was able to access such pamphlets from protected archives. The propaganda was amazing. Slogans such as ‘Cooking for Victory’, ‘Our Food – Our Defence’ accompanied with images of healthy looking children promoted healthy eating. The public were encouraged not only to cook wisely but to save their left overs and recycle meals. We still do this today. If I’ve cooked too many potatoes for myself (sometimes intentionally) I will leave them in a bowl to chop and fry the following day.

Being a vegetable, potatoes are easily grown. The British public were encouraged to grow their own vegetables. Most of the parks in London were turned into allotments where people came together to tend to their plot. This system worked of course, England won the war.

The Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects. Hard-Time cookery. London: A V Huckle & Son Ltd, 1940.

Hot Potato Fact

The word 'Spud' is brought to us by the the Scots!

It was originally referred to the three-pronged fork used to lift potatoes!