2023-08-23 23:53:00
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PODCAST. To thank the King of the French for letting him cultivate this tuber with great nutritional properties, the agronomist offered him a flower.
By Frédéric Lewino and Gwendoline Dos Santos
Published on 08/23/2012 at 11:59 p.m. – Modified on 08/23/2023 at 11:53 p.m.
On August 24, 1786, the pharmacist-agronomist Antoine Parmentier went to Versailles to offer Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette the flowers of the first potatoes grown in the plain of Sablons in Neuilly-sur-Seine. With this gesture, Parmentier wants to thank the king for having put a field at his disposal, but, above all, for having made discover this plant still too little known in France. That day, the king is in a good mood. “Give me your hand and kiss the queen!” he says to the agronomist, who didn’t ask for so much. On this, Louis XVI detaches a flower from the bouquet to put it in his buttonhole, and another that he attaches to Marie-Antoinette’s hat.
The same day, a dish of “parmentières” is served at the royal table. Louis XVI may have all the faults…
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