Parmentier, Antoine-Augustin (1737–1813) was a pharmacist whose advocacy of the potato, a tuber long ignored or derided in most parts of France, is an instance of that heroic first phase of the conjunction of food and science exemplified by his contemporaries Nicolas appert and Friedrich accum. He was to write towards the end of his life, ‘The people’s nourishment is my only care, my only wish is to improve its quality and reduce its cost.’
He first encountered the root in 1757 when held as a prisoner-of-war by the Prussians, whose king, Frederick the Great, was himself a vigorous advocate of the potato. Incarcerated, he had no other sustenance and, to his surprise, suffered no ill effects thereby. Over the next fifty years, and under many political masters (barely escaping the guillotine in 1793), his aim was to better acquaint the French with the potato, to improve the utilization of this plant, as well as of wheat, maize, rice, and other staples, and to raise the standard of French baking. His books, especially Advice to town and country housewives on the best manner to bake bread (1777), The perfect baker (1778), and Treatise on the cultivation and the use of the potato, the sweet potato and the Jerusalem artichoke (1789), were masterful and readable explanations of vital matters.
