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Nicolas Appert

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Inventor

The Resume

    (November 17, 1749-June 1, 1841)
    Born in Chalons-sur-Marne, France
    Confectioner, chef and inventor
    Invented air-tight food preservation
    Wrote 'The Art of Preserving Animal and Vegetable Substances' (1810)

Why he might be annoying:

    He is often described as the inventor of canning, but he used glass bottles. (English manufacturer Peter Durand would apply Appert's preservation techniques to food in tin cans in 1810.)
    Partly due to the high costs of his equipment, he went bankrupt (1806).
    His petition for the Legion of Honor was rejected by King Louis Philippe (1828), probably due to Appert's support of the anti-monarchists during the French Revolution.
    Despite a yearly pension of 1,200 francs from the French government, he died broke and was buried in a pauper's grave.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He opened the first large-scale food bottling plant in the world (1804).
    In sea trials conducted by the French navy, his reserved foods remained fresh for up to four months (1804).
    He received an award of 12,000 francs from the Ministry of the Interior on the condition that he make his preservation process public (1810).
    After his original factory was destroyed in battle by Austrian and Prussian soldiers, the French government offered him free rent to open a new factory in Paris (1814).
    Gastronome Grimod de la Reyniere wrote that Appert's preserved peas were 'green, tender, and more flavorful than those eaten at the height of the season.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 21 Votes: 38.10% Annoying