Since wheat, and therefore bread, were in increasingly short supply in France over the course of the first world war, the French government promoted potatoes as a suitable replacement. As the young artist recommended here, the people of France should “economize on bread by eating potatoes.” In 1917, rationing allowed a single person to receive five pounds of potatoes per week; however, a dramatic increase in the price of potatoes at the same time meant that, while it was officially permitted, most people could not afford to buy them in this kind of quantity.