ABSTRACT
The explanation of how the French learned to eat canned foods moves the focus of historical investigation onto consumers and the formation of their tastes. The emphasis on the genesis of consumption practices steers clear of the misleading equation between mass production and a progressive convergence of lifestyles in so-called consumer societies. The almost secular resistance to canned foodstuffs is puzzling in the face of the hope that Appert's breakthrough raised at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Military command had been aware of Appert's discovery early on, and Napoleon I awarded an important prize to the inventor. Relying entirely on the writings of proselytes, Jean-Paul Aron inferred that sterilized victuals encountered "an extraordinary favor" among consumers during the nineteenth century. The efforts to improve the organoleptic and visual aspects of canned food accelerated with the onset of World War I. Finally, the effects of mass production incited industrialists to call for the institution of product norms to regulate competition.
