Hundred-year-old advertisements provide a window into the times. Sometimes these ads say things that are offensive or make little sense today. A 1926 advertisement for Mueller’s Egg Noodles in American Cookery magazine does both. It makes me cringe that the ad assumes that the magazine readers are white.
The ad is also very confusing. I get that noodles are a substitute for potatoes, and I also know that, both then and now, people were concerned about rough, dry hands. But then I get lost. Does peeling potatoes somehow result in rough hands?
Many people a hundred years ago ate potatoes at almost every meal. Potatoes were often peeled to make boiled, fried, or mashed potatoes. But, is peeling potatoes more likely to cause rough hands than other tasks related to cooking?
I don’t peel potatoes twice a day, and potatoes purchased at a store today generally have already been washed. But, I do regularly peel potatoes, and my hands are rough (though fortunately not grimy). Maybe I should decrease my potato consumption and serve more noodles. 
The ad also highlights that it takes less time to prepare noodles than to make potatoes. It says that that noodles can be cooked in 9 minutes, while it takes 35 to 40 minutes to peel and cook potatoes. Cooks, generally women, a hundred years ago embraced commercially-produced foods, and dishes that could be prepared quickly.
Well, 35 – 40 minutes sounds a long time to get those spuds ready, unless they’re being roasted. And on balance, I’d have thought they covered more nutritional bases than noodles. Although noodles also offer plenty of ways of being served – as do potatoes!
Every year I make mashed potatoes to serve with Swedish meatballs for my winter solstice party. The timing of your post struck me as a fascinating coincidence because I’ve been debating making egg noodles instead of mashed potatoes this year, to save myself a little trouble and a little time.
Love this!
I always get potatoes wet under running water before I peel. On Saturdays at my dad’s restaurant, we peeled potatoes for French fries, so even as a kid, I peeled many. I was also a dishwasher, but I guess my young hands could take it.