Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (, , ; 12 August 1737 – 13 December 1813) was a French pharmacist and

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...

, best remembered as a vocal promoter of the

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

as a food source for humans in France and throughout Europe. His many other contributions to nutrition and health included establishing the first mandatory

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

vaccination campaign (under

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

beginning in 1805, when he was Inspector-General of the Health Service) and pioneering the extraction of sugar from sugar beets. Parmentier also founded a school of breadmaking and studied methods of conserving food, including

refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

Life and career

While serving as an army pharmacist for France in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

, he was captured by the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

ns, and in prison in

was faced with eating potatoes, known to the French only as hog feed. The potato had been introduced from South America to Europe by the Spaniards at the beginning of the 16th century. It was introduced to the rest of Europe by 1640, but (outside Spain and Ireland) was usually used only for animal feed. King Frederick II of Prussia had required peasants to cultivate the plants under severe penalties and had provided them cuttings. In 1748 France had actually forbidden the cultivation of the potato (on the grounds that it was thought to cause

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

among other things), and this law remained on the books in Parmentier's time, until 1772. From his return to Paris in 1763 he pursued his pioneering studies in nutritional chemistry. His prison experience came to mind in 1772 when he proposed (in a contest sponsored by the Academy of

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

) use of the potato as a source of nourishment for dysenteric patients. He won the prize on behalf of the potato in 1773. Due largely to Parmentier's efforts, the Paris Faculty of Medicine declared potatoes edible in 1772. Still, resistance continued, and Parmentier was prevented from using his test garden at the Invalides hospital, where he was pharmacist, by the religious community that owned the land, whose complaints resulted in the suppression of Parmentier's post at the

Invalides The Hôtel des Invalides ( en, "house of invalids"), commonly called Les Invalides (), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as ...

. In 1779, Parmentier was appointed to teach at the Free School of Bakery to help stabilize Paris' food supply by making bread in a more cost-efficient fashion. In that same year, he published ''Manière de faire le pain de pommes de terre, sans mélange de farine'', in which he described how one can make

potato bread Potato bread is a form of bread in which potato flour or potato replaces a portion of the regular wheat flour. It is cooked in a variety of ways, including baking it on a hot griddle or pan, or in an oven. It may be leavened or unleavened, and ...

that still has all the characteristics of wheat bread.Spary, Emma. ''Feeding France: New Sciences of Food, 1760–1815''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. In 1800,

Napoléon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

appointed him the first army pharmacist. He succeeded Pierre Bayen: he continued his fight to place pharmacy on the same level as medicine and surgery.

Potato publicity stunts

Parmentier then began a series of publicity stunts for which he remains notable today, hosting dinners at which potato dishes featured prominently and guests included

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

and

Antoine Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...

). These 54 ''

arpent An arpent (, sometimes called arpen) is a unit of length and a unit of area. It is a pre- metric French unit based on the Roman ''actus''. It is used in Quebec, some areas of the United States that were part of French Louisiana, and in Maur ...

s'' of impoverished ground near

Neuilly Neuilly (, ) is a common place name in France, deriving from the male given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as we ...

, west of Paris, had been allotted him by order of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

in 1787.

Acceptance of the potato

In 1771, Parmentier won an essay contest in which all the judges voted the potato as the best substitute for ordinary flour. This was before a time when France needed a replacement for wheat, so Parmentier continued to face criticism and lack of acknowledgment for his work. The first step in the acceptance of the potato in French society was a year of bad harvests, 1785, when the scorned potatoes staved off famine in the north of France. In 1789, Parmentier published ''Treatise on the Culture and Use of the Potato, Sweet Potato, and Jerusalem Artichoke'' (''Traité sur la culture et les usages des Pommes de terre, de la Patate, et du Topinambour''), "printed by order of the king", giving royal backing to potato eating, albeit on the eve of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, leaving it up to the Republicans to accept it.www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library/blog/
/ref> In 1794, Madame Mérigot published ''La Cuisinière Républicaine'' (''The emaleRepublican Cook''), the first potato cookbook, promoting potatoes as food for the common people. PL Parmentier

Parmentier's

agronomic Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that spe ...

interests covered a wide range of opportunities to ameliorate the human lot through technical improvements; he published his observations touching on bread-baking,

cheese-making Cheesemaking (or caseiculture) is the craft of making cheese. The production of cheese, like many other food preservation processes, allows the nutritional and economic value of a food material, in this case milk, to be preserved in concentr ...

, grain storage, the use of cornmeal (maize) and chestnut flour, mushroom culture,

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. Mineral water may usually be still or sparkling (carbonated/effervescent) according to the presence or absence of added gases. T ...

wine-making Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and w ...

, improved sea biscuits, and a host of other topics of interest to the

Physiocrat Physiocracy (; from the Greek for "government of nature") is an economic theory developed by a group of 18th-century Age of Enlightenment French economists who believed that the wealth of nations derived solely from the value of "land agricultur ...

Dishes named after Parmentier

Starting in the 1870s, many dishes including potatoes were named in honor of Parmentier: ''potage, velouté,'' or ''crème Parmentier'', a potato and leek soup; '' hachis Parmentier'', a cottage or shepherd's pie; '' brandade de morue parmentier'', salt cod mashed with olive oil and potatoes; ''pommes'' or ''garniture Parmentier'', cubed potatoes fried in butter; ''purée Parmentier'',

mashed potatoes Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American and Canadian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a ...

; ''salade Parmentier'',

potato salad Potato salad is a salad dish made from boiled potatoes, usually containing a dressing and a variety of other ingredients such as boiled eggs and raw vegetables. In the United States, it is generally considered a side dish and usually accompanie ...

Death and legacy

Parmentier died on 13 December 1813, aged 76. He is buried in

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figure ...

in Paris, in a plot ringed by potato plants, and his name is given to a long avenue in the 10th and 11th arrondissements (and a station on line 3 of the

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (french: Métro de Paris ; short for Métropolitain ) is a rapid transit system in the Paris metropolitan area, France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architec ...

). At Montdidier, his bronze statue surveys ''Place Parmentier'' from its high socle, while below in full marble relief, seed potatoes are distributed to a grateful peasant.Antoine-Augustin Parmentier
Hervé & Joëlle Grosjean Another monumental statue of Parmentier, by French sculptor

Adrien Étienne Gaudez Adrien Étienne Gaudez (2 February 1845 – 23 January 1902) was a French sculptor who worked in the 19th century. He produced several monumental figures that were cast in bronze. Gaudez studied sculpture under the tutelage of Francois Jouffroy a ...

, is erected in the square of the town hall of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

References

External links

''L'Histoire en-ligne''
Antoine-Augustin Parmentier
''L'Encyclopédie de l'Agora''
Antoine-Augustin_Parmentier

"Antoine-Augustin Parmentier"
Illustrated virtual exhibition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parmentier 1737 births 1813 deaths People from Montdidier, Somme French pharmacists French agronomists Members of the French Academy of Sciences Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 18th-century agronomists 19th-century agronomists Recipients of the Legion of Honour History of the potato