Grave of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier
If you amble through Paris’s popular Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, among tombs of celebrated philosophers, singers, and playwrights, you may discover a grave surrounded by potato plants. If an admirer has stopped by recently, there may even be a tuber resting atop the tombstone. You have found the final resting place of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, history’s greatest potato promoter.
When Parmentier was born, in 1737, the French disdained potatoes: Farmers grew them as animal feed, but they were seen as unfit for human consumption, with the potential to cause leprosy. At the time of his death, though, potatoes were grown throughout Europe, and the hardy, dependable crop was credited for breaking a cycle of famine. No one could take more c… Continue Reading (2 minute read)
Matt Damon lived off potatoes while on Mars they must be excellent
*Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew.*
>meh
Irishman
In his honor, one of the most famous dishes people enjoy in France is called Hachis Parmentier. It’s a casserole made with layers of mashed potatoes and beef, topped with cheese. Absolutely delicious.
Original source: http://sifpod.fun/
Iirc aren’t potatoes complex carbohydrates, and you could survive off milk and potatoes if you had to? Something or the other about them containing all the necessary nutrients we need, but it could have been an old rumor I read
Potatoes are amazing foods.
They have far more potassium than bananas and you can live on them indefinitely.
My wife and I tried the tater diet a couple years ago and it completely normalized her blood pressure, we list weight as well, but the BP one blew my mind.
The potato diet is how Penn Gillett lost his weight.
If you ever see “Parmentier” on a French menu, it’s a potato dish.
salade Parmentier: potato salad
hachis Parmentier: shephard’s pie
velouté Parmentier: potato soup
purée Parmentier: mashed potatoes
pommes Parmentier: cubed potatoes fried in butter
The Potato has to be the worlds most diverse plant/food. And I will nom in all forms!
One of his tactics to encourage interest in potatoes was to have a field of potatoes ostentatiously guarded to make the locals think they were worth swiping.
POWtatoes
For everyone wondering, this was in the 18th century.
Oddly, when I hear “French soldier’ I think WWI (I knew it wasn’t the case here, I’m just surprised to note that association.)
That’s spudtacular
My grandfather, a Yugoslav partisan, was captured by Germans and taken to POW camp. They were feeding them horribly (he lost almost 40 kg – from cca 100+ to 65), so inmates were forced to dig trough German army trash to survive. They would supplant their nutrition by cooking mostly potato peels they found.
So what you’re telling me is that it is not a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes? Take that Douglas Adams!