Welcomed, airmen, keys. Cabinet of curiosity is a production of I hurt. Radio and grim and mild. Our world is full of the unexplainable and of history has, open book. All of these amazing tales are right there on display just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the cabinet of curiosities, the brussel sprouts, lima beans, liver, and onions mention any of these to a child, and they run the other way back. Some adults might too and foods, no matter how you prepare them, just aren't appealing that doesn't mean we stop trying, though whether we eat them fried baked or fricasseed. Whenever It's to make the seemingly inedible edible. Now

imagine a world where we never had french fries or mashed potatoes or potato chips a world where, potato wasn't just ignored. It was rejected and even feared strangely enough, that world wasn't so long ago. It all started during the early sixteenth century when the potato was first introduced to europe by spaniards who had brought it from south america. A french head We use for it beyond feeding their pigs. They even believed ingesting. It would cause leprosy. European, as a whole kept their distance from potatoes for two hundred years until a man named entwine, Agustin parliamentary entered the picture, and one was a french pharmacist to serve during the seven years war. In that time he was captured by the prussians as a prisoner of war and forced to eat potatoes.

Is tea rather starve, potatoes were a major crop in prussia, with king frederick, the second having ordered his peasants to grow them Antoine. Unlike his fellow frenchman, didn't mind the taste of potatoes. In fact he quite enjoyed them. He did it. develop leprosy, nor did he contracts any other maladies associated with them upon his real. at the end of the war he returned to france on a mission to change people's minds about the misunderstood vegetable. He started by looking into the health benefits of the potato and discovered it provided help to those afflicted with dysentery, Antoine's research won him a scientific award in one thousand, seven hundred and seventy three and was a small step in convincing the public that the potato was something to be enjoyed. Thanks to his help, France also removed a law forbidding the cultivation of potatoes which had been upheld since one thousand seven hundred and forty eight

It seems the tubers tides returning, except where the public was concerned. While potatoes were approved in certain medical practices, the average french person still saw them as harbingers of disease and death. Even the hospital where Antoine worked, wouldn't let him practice his new brand of medicine on patients. The pharmacist had to find a way to change people's minds and he started at the top. He hosted dinner parties with special guests, including founding father, Benjamin franklin, where he served all kinds: potato based dishes to great success. He also gifted king louis, the sixteenth and marie antoinette a bouquet of potato blossom flowers, though these weren't potatoes themselves. He knew such a gesture would indeed the royal family to his cause and it did upon receiving the purple flowers the queen tucked one into her hair, while the king threaded another into a buttonhole on his coat king, louis

for more information about the flowers and the fruit they bore and twond obliged by describing his plan, which intrigue the king enough to grow. The pharmacist, a plot of land on which to grow his crops, but simply growing them, wasn't going to help if the average french citizen still saw them as inedible. So the resourceful antoine hatched, a scheme to everyone into eating potatoes. He hired armed guards to stand watch outside his plot during the day. After all, anything protected, so well must be worth stealing right at night. Peasants would sneak in and steal the crops bringing them home to feed their families and neighbors Antoine told the guards to let them go. Even if they were caught, he didn't want to stop anyone from stealing his potatoes. Getting them into people's hands and mouse had been the plan all along. It still took many years for the potato to gain in popularity.

even during times of famine, people were still reluctant to grow and consume them. That is, however, until Parmentier wrote a brochure expounding on the versatility of the common potato, commission on subsistence and provisions, publish the pamphlets inviting people to not only grow and cultivate potatoes, but to submit recipes for inclusion in a forthcoming cookbook. Even napoleon bonaparte's got on board the tater train and with his encouragement, the potato once a source of disgust for many became a staple of their cuisine and culture It also gave the republic away to become self sufficient. However, it was one man's tireless crusade for a misunderstood route vegetable. They made him a french food icon. They even erected a statue of him in his home town and one august in parliamentary year. The man who gave the potato

to France, a large seemingly unstoppable force, one lone person raging against the machine, there's a ring. And we root for David and not goliath. The latter is bent on destruction against the solitary crusader standing up for. What's right unfortunately, David and goliath stories don't always end the way we hope oftentimes. It takes a lot more than one person to affect the necessary change, but then again, there's wing l Wang had been a farmer in a small chinese village for most of his life. He left school at the age of ten to help his family, who also tended to the land. Yet his desire to

I never waned. He read often teaching himself new things to improve his quality of life by the time he reached his sixties. However, it wasn't the quality of his life. He was worried about. It was the quality of his farm, it all started in the year two thousand and one wayne noticed a strange smell in his home they've been celebrating the lunar new year with his neighbor preparing food and playing cards with a small flood of toxic water entered the house. He rushed outside to see where it was coming from only to witness his land under siege by the same sludge. His crops were destroyed, as well as his ability to make a living. After doing some investigating when discover the cause of his problem a local chemical company, had been polluting his land, but water had been waste, run off from one of its facilities and Wang wasn't the only victim either. Other farms in the village had also seen their land submerged under toxic waste, rendering it unusable for years

come a village committee had previously agreed to lease almost seventy acres too. She who are chemical group, a subsidiary of the largest chemical company in China, villagers had no say in the matter, and she who are chemicals, took no precautions in controlling their waste outputs. with their livelihoods in ruin. None of the farmers had the money to hire a lawyer local company was a formidable opponents. Bringing in several hundred million dollars a year with an army of attorneys at its disposal, but Wang had to do something for himself for his community that for any one else affected by the companies careless actions, since he couldn't hire a lawyer of his own to take the company to court. Wang did the next best thing. He started studying the law himself, but the books he needed were expensive and without a steady income he had to find another way to get his hands on them. Luckily, the local bookstores had everything he needed to begin his d. I y legal education, the bookshop wouldn't barter, but they did

Allow him to come in and copy information into a notebook by hand which he repaid by giving them sacks of corn after five years of studying on his own Wang sought out a chinese environmental law firm to help him with his case. They were sympathetic to his cause and offered him free legal advice, even helping him file a petition with the court to begin the lawsuit process and he continued to study and fight for another eight years, while CI, who are chemicals, kept pumping toxic waste into the land. Finally, in two thousand and fifteen, the court system kicked into gear and two Later the case was over through his sixteen years of self teaching and legal maneuvering Wang and his neighbors put together a mountain of evidence, proving that she who are chemicals was responsible for dumping fifteen to twenty thousand tonnes of toxic waste a year onto their farmland. The district court agreed by the company had done was reckless destructive and unconscionable

and it was on them to make it right. Wedding and his village were awarded the american equivalent of roughly one hundred twenty five thousand dollars in damages. The victory was short lived though she who are chemicals appealed and the ruling was overturned, but that hasn't stopped weighing from can you mean his one man crusade against a goliath of a corporation, though, he may not live to see how it all plays out in the end. His will to fight is an inspiration for anyone who thinks they can't make a difference as just one person. Well, one person did, I hope, you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the cabinet of curiosities. Subscribe for free on apple pod, casts or learn more about the show by visiting curiosities, podcast dot come the show was created by me, Erin maggie in partnership with how stuff works I make another award winning show called lore witches upon cast book.

There is an television show and you can learn all about it over at the world of law or dont come and until next time stay curious.