France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries saw increased use of salt in food advertising and preservation. Canned fish products like sardines were soaked in brine during processing. Meat extracts, popularized by Liebig, contained 4% salt initially but some brands increased this to 25%. The mining of potash, used as fertilizer, became an important industry, helping crops like wheat and vegetables. Many food advertisements from this era featured canned goods and promoted the use of salt and meat extracts in cooking and agriculture.

1. Salt in Relation to Food Advertising:
France from the Late 19th Century
to the Early 20th Century
Prepared by Anna Soo-Hoo
Fall 2015

2. Canning, developed in the early 19th century by two Frenchmen
Nicolas Appert (1749 – 1841) and Philippe de Girard (1775 – 1845), provided an
alternative to salting as a way to preserve certain foods, but quite a bit of salt
was still used in many canned fish and meat products. For example, a 1901
report about the French sardine industry reveals that one step in the process of
preparing sardines for canning involves soaking the sardines in strong brine for
an hour. Another canned food product that became popular was meat extracts.
Though a French chemist named Proust was acknowledged by Justus von
Liebig (1803-1873) as having already created meat extracts, it was Liebig’s
formula of using only meat stock and four percent of salt that became well-
known. Some food companies, however, soon produced canned meat extracts
that were made of 25% added salt.
As for growing wheat, fruits, and vegetables, the mining of potash (a
salt that can be used as fertilizer) became a lucrative business for certain
regions. In southern Alsace, Amélie Zurcher (1858-1947) was persistent in
wanting to know if her land could be mined for valuable minerals, and this led
to the discovery of potash in the region.

3. « La Sardine française, Béziers vous salue »
Illustrateur : Benjamin Rabier (1864-1939)
Paris
Date d'édition : 1920
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9011427x
Interesting fact: Benjamin Rabier also
illustrated for a popular brand of processed
cheese products—La vache qui rit, known to
English speakers as The Laughing Cow.

4. The “Amieux Frères” brand for canned sardines and other foods
Illustrator: Georges Fay (1871-1916)
Dated Issued: 1896-1900
The New York Public Library
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-38b5-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

5. “Harengs et maquereaux, La Boulonnaise... L. Bouclet.
Boulogne/s/Mer... ” (Herring and Mackerel…)
Illustrateur : Leonetto Cappiello (1875-1942)
Paris
Date d'édition : 1912
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9010470m

6. “Conserves de l'Heureux convive” (The Happy
Guest’s Preserved Foods)
Illustrateur : Leonetto Cappiello (1875-1942)
Paris
Date d'édition : 1911
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9005959k

7. Renaissance Art in Italy: Benvenuto Cellini, (c. 1900). Cellini (1500-1571) presents the famous saltcellar to the King of
France, Francis I. French advertisement for Liebig's extract of meat. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print
Collector/Getty Images)
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/renaissance-art-in-italy-benvenuto-cellini-cellini-presents-news-
photo/463950825

8. Trading cards introduced in 1872 by the Liebig Company increased
the popularity of its meat extracts and other products. Regarding the trading
card just shown, the saltcellar that Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) created for
François I (1494-1547) is currently at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.

9. France was one of the markets for the American
meatpacking company Armour & Co.
“Armour & Cie. Chicago, Etats-Unis. Extrait de
viande, le seul qui conserve la saveur de la
viande fraîche [...] : en vente chez les épiciers
m[archan]d de comestibles [...]. Agence pour la
France, 37 rue Lafayette, Paris” (“Armour & Co
meat extract, the only kind that preserves the
taste of meat … : available at grocery stores…”)
Illustrator: Albert Guillaume (1873-1942)
Paris
Dated Issued: 1896-1900
The New York Public Library
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47
da-389f-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

10. Poster: canned goods by the Louis Blachère company
Illustrateur : Eugène Ogé (1861-1936)
Paris
Date d'édition : 1905
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9011380z

11. “Mes petits derniers, nourris à la potasse”
(My most recent little ones, nourished on potash)
Date d'édition : c. 1920
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10225160d

12. « L'Alsace, à tout l'Empire, apporte sa potasse »
Illustrateur : Pineau
Date d'édition : c. 1910
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b102251591

13. « Potasses d'Alsace : on ne peut obtenir de
rendements élevés en agriculture que par
l'emploi simultané des engrais azotés,
phosphatés et potassiques... »
Illustrateur : Danilo
Date d'édition : c. 1930
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10225122
n/f1.item

14. Sources
Appelbaum, Stanley, ed. The Complete "Masters of the Poster": All 256 Color Plates from "Les
Maîtres de l’affiche." New York: Dover, 1990.
Calon, Olivier. Benjamin Rabier. Paris: Tallandier, 2004.
Freedman, Paul H. Food: The History of Taste. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
McMichael, Philip, ed. Food and Agrarian Orders in the World-Economy. Connecticut:
Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995.
Nouveau Dictionnaire de biographie alsacienne, No. 42, Zo à Zy. Strasbourg: Fédération des
Soc. d'Histoire et d'Archéologie d'Alsace, 2003.
Robertson, Gordon L. Food Packaging: Principles and Practice, Second Edition. Florida: CRC
Press, 2006.
Smith, Hugh M. (US Commission of Fish and Fisheries). “The French Sardine Industry.”
Popular Science Monthly Oct. 1901: 542-556.
The Medical Press. London: Oxford University, 1882.
United States. Thirty-first and Thirty-second Annual Reports of the Connecticut Agricultural
Experiment Station. Hartford: The Tuttle, Morehouse, and Taylor Company, 1908.