Parmentier’s potato field

Name: Parmentier’s potato field
Start: 1786
Location: Les Sablons, near Paris

1786 · Les Sablons, near Paris · Europe · Science

A pharmacist wins the French over to potatoes

Parmentier’s potato field — Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Parmentier came to love potatoes as a prisoner in Prussia and promoted them ever after. Louis XVI gave him a field near Paris; legend says soldiers guarded it by day and left at night so the curious could steal the tubers.

State: Kingdom of France, Kingdom of France

Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 18th century

Did you know

A former prisoner of war made potatoes popular in France. Parmentier ate them in Prussian captivity during the Seven Years' War and, legend says, had soldiers guard his potato field by day so Parisians would steal from it at night. Share →

France banned growing potatoes in 1748, believing they caused leprosy. The Paris Faculty of Medicine declared them edible only in 1772, after Parmentier’s campaign. Share →

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