Rue Nicolas-Appert

This street is named for Nicolas Appert, an eighteenth-century inventor whose work fundamentally changed how the world stores food. Before his breakthroughs, the preservation of perishables like meat and vegetables was a constant struggle against spoilage and rot. Appert discovered that by sealing food in glass jars and heating them in boiling water, he could create a vacuum that kept the contents fresh for years. He effectively pioneered the technique now known as canning, decades before scientists understood the biological processes behind why his method actually worked.