If you like your pommes frites, pommes Anna, pommes Dauphinoise, aligot, even the humble puree, you really must thank Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, public health guru, nutritionist, and pharmacist, who finally, in 1772, convinced the French that potatoes were suitable for humans, not just hogs. And look at the results. In fact, what would French cuisine be without the potato? The last time I ate out, there were potatoes in my main course and even in my salad. And of course, his name is permanently associated with the French version of shepherd's pie known as hachis Parmentier.
In addition to the street bearing his name, which cuts through a wide swath of the 10th and 11th arrondissement and a stop on Métro line 3, the French also pay hommage to Parmentier by visiting his grave site at Père Lachaise. When I was there last week, there were some fresh tubers placed on his tomb.
9 comments:
Excellent!
I thought the potato on the tombstone was a bread roll at first :)
My partner Clive is a big fan of hachis parmentier ... personally I'll take a spinach and goat cheese lasagna any day.
Anyway, thanks for your usual interesting post.
How funny is that! Thanks for the info. It's just too bad he didn't do the same for sweet corn....lol
Ksam: And why is that even though you can't get a decent ear of corn on the cob come summer, you can't scarcely order a salad in Paris without the ubiquitous canned corn kernels?
My family are big (well, not literally, we're actually modestly sized) potato fans and I've always been grateful to Parmentier and thought he deserved an annual celebration on the calendar. Maybe I'll invent one.
what are the farmers growing in all those fields if it's not corn? or do they only grow the kind for corn starch...I guess corn on the cob is considered..'not french'
I know! The corn in the salads thing in Paris really surprised me - in Bretagne, I couldn't get anyone to touch corn with a ten foot pole (because everyone knows that corn is for pigs, not for people, DUH).
I once ordered hachis Parmentier without knowing what it was. I was surprised, when they brought it to the table, to see that it was shepherd's pie.
What a fun post. Love those potatoes on the tombstone! Only in France...........
I love a tuber and secretly long for pommes frites to be added to my plate! Oh i"ll be sure to look this up on my next trek to Pere Lachaise. What a terrific post. Thanks to Harriet for alerting me. I"m forwarding it to my dear friend Mary who adores a good cemetery!
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