let them eat potatoes
Antoine Augustin Parmentier (1737-1813), pharmacist and food scientist, was the man who gave the French potatoes.
Although the potato was introduced into Europe in 1640 it was not regarded in France as food for human consumption until well into the C18. And then only thanks to the work of Parmentier.
A pharmacist in the French Army he was inprisoned in Germany during the Seven Years War (1756-1763) where he discovered the nutritional properties of potatoes.
He subsequently pursued research into this matter and promoted his beliefs in the human food value of the potato. But this wasn't finally accepted until 1789 when Louis XVI ordered the publication of his Treatise on the Cultivation and Use of the Potato.
His name is marked in Paris not only by this plaque but by "Avenue Parmentier", which cuts across Rue du Chemin Vert close to this address, and by a Parmentier metro station.
Here are a couple of fuller accounts of his life and work:
www.thehistoricfoodie.wordpress.com/tag/antoine-augustin-...
let them eat potatoes
Antoine Augustin Parmentier (1737-1813), pharmacist and food scientist, was the man who gave the French potatoes.
Although the potato was introduced into Europe in 1640 it was not regarded in France as food for human consumption until well into the C18. And then only thanks to the work of Parmentier.
A pharmacist in the French Army he was inprisoned in Germany during the Seven Years War (1756-1763) where he discovered the nutritional properties of potatoes.
He subsequently pursued research into this matter and promoted his beliefs in the human food value of the potato. But this wasn't finally accepted until 1789 when Louis XVI ordered the publication of his Treatise on the Cultivation and Use of the Potato.
His name is marked in Paris not only by this plaque but by "Avenue Parmentier", which cuts across Rue du Chemin Vert close to this address, and by a Parmentier metro station.
Here are a couple of fuller accounts of his life and work:
www.thehistoricfoodie.wordpress.com/tag/antoine-augustin-...