Antoine parmentier biography
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One of the dishes that we love eating in France is parmentier de canard (duck parmentier), sometimes also called parmentier de confit de canard, so we thought it would be fun to find out why it’s called “parmentier”. Turns out that it’s a really interesting story.
The word “parmentier” is used to describe any dish prepared with potatoes.
A number of French potato dishes are called “parmentier”. For example, Hachis Parmentier, which is similar to shepherd’s pie made of beef with a mashed potato crust, and Potage Parmentier, which is potato and leek soup. Many dishes served in France also come with some version of potatoes, often in the “parmentier” style. I think our favorite is still Parmentier de Canard.
These dishes are named for Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (1737-1813), a French pharmacist and agronomist who spent his adult life promoting the potato.
It’s hard to imagine these days that the potato wasn’t always well-known and popul
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In early fall, in Maine’s far northern Aroostook County, schools close for “potato recess”—also known as harvest break—as students help out with the potato harvest. It’s an annual tradition for one of America’s most beloved crops: the humble potato. The potato has come a long way to be a very popular vegetable in the United States and throughout Europe. But that wasn’t always the case.
The Not-So-Hot Potato?
While the potato was becoming a part of European cooking ever since the Spaniards brought them to the continent in the mid-1500s, the French were not so hot on the potato. They refused to accept the vegetable, referring to it as “hog feed” and believing that these tubers caused leprosy. In fact, the French Parliament officially banned potatoes in 1748.
Along came Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French pharmacist who served as an army pharmacist during the Seven Years’ War between 1754 and 1763. It was during this time that the Prussians
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Parmentier, Member of the Agricultural Society
Working as a pharmacist at the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, Parmentier conducted research on the vegetables that could replace those traditionally used to feed the population. Throughout his life he remained tireless in his quest to put a stop to the food shortages ravaging the kingdom.
Treatise on the Culture and Use of Potatoes
As a member of the Agricultural Society, a professor at the College of Pharmacy and School of Bakery, his research on the potatoes he planted in the Sablons plains outside of Paris resulted in his Treatise on the Culture and Use of Potatoes in 1789, which was met with great success and earned him this compliment from Louis XVI: “One day France will thank you for having found the bread for the poor!"
He was sought after by revolutionary committees in charge of agricultural issues, hygiene and assistance for the poor and became a member of the Institut in 1795 and First Pharmacist to the Army in 1800.