From Twice a Year to Twice per Week:

Increasing Sweetpotato Consumption

Jack D. Osman

Health Science Department

Towson University

Sweetpotatoes Are a Nutritional Natural

The Public’s Image:

Sweetpotatoes are viewed as a holiday food, not a dietary stable.

Historically, the aristocrats used white flour as a status symbol. Whole grain (dark) flours were

reserved for the poor.

Today, the white potato is favored by the affluent majority while the sweetpotato still retains the image

of a poor people’s food.

The Sweetpotato Industry can change the public’s

perspective, but it will take years of persuasive promotion.

Juneteenth CelebrationSweet Potato Pie Contest

Baltimore, MarylandJune 2002

Sweetpotato FestivalThe Wellness FarmStewartstown, PA

Dig-Your-Own Sweetpotatoes

Newspaper InterviewsFall 2002

Saubel’s Grocery StoreShrewsbury, PA

During November 2002 the owner agreed to bake and sell the Chocolate Sweetpotato Pie during

the Thanksgiving holiday.I handed out samples of the pie

and answered a variety of sweetpotato questions.

Promotion Possibilities

• Develop/distribute a colorful, attractive poster for in-store display.

• Send articles to weekly community-based newspapers. (They are usually thrilled to receive informative material.) These local papers have a wide distribution and often come to the home free of charge.

Administrators

Faculty

A Washington, D.C.Second Generation Variety