that's absurd.
didn't you even read bread's history of the potato tot, where he discovered that tots are made of potato waste and flour?
while i'm not going to comment about the tot industry back during the civil war era, i will say that the overwhelming amount of tot products available on today's market are gf.
also, my guess is that tot would go best with wheat. like, i'll take the new belgium tator tot wheat please.
