“Mr Appert has found a way to pause the seasons. He keeps spring, summer and autumn alive in jars, just as gardeners protect delicate plants against the harsh weather under glass domes.”
Le Courrier de l’Europe (newspaper), 10 February 1809.
The admiration in this article for Nicolas Appert’s invention of airtight preservation makes it clear that this was a revolution in the food industry.
After Nicolas Appert, the names of other canners became known all over the world.
Sardines were the first fish to be industrially canned, leading to the gradual emergence of a “sardine strip” that stretched from Brittany to the French Basque Country, made up of numerous canning factories along the coast. The number of factories in Douarnenez increased from three in 1860 to around thirty in 1880. There were still around twenty just after the Second World War.
At the end of the 19th century, canned food was a luxury product, but with industrialisation, it became an everyday consumer item, with various adverts promoting its practical advantages.