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a cook and confectioner, the poor taste and texture of salted, smoked and dried foods led him

to experiment by submerging bottles of vegetables, fruit and meats in boiling water

(Shephard 2006). Regardless of its novelty, Appel was the first to develop and describe the

method and in 1810 accepted a cash payment for the publication of the methods in L’art de

Conserver, Pendant Plusieurs Années, Toutes les Substances Animales et Végétales

(Shephard 2006, p. 233). The publication preceded by three months the patent granted to

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English broker Peter Durand for a method almost identical to Appel’s (233) . Durand then
sold the patent to the engineer Bryan Donkin who worked with partners from the Dartford

Iron Works (Shepard 2006, p. 233; Goody 2013, p. 76) to apply the method using tins

(Toussaint-Samat 2006, p. 739). After the establishment of their ‘preservatorium’ in 1813

they became the first food-canning business in the world (Shephard 2006, pp. 233-36).

Even though the world of industrial food had begun with the humble tin playing a major role

(Goody 2013, p. 77), it took some years before tinned food was accepted by and affordable

for the public. With migration the method spread further afield and tinned food soon became

a global commodity. English immigrants introduced the method to America, where it was

later referred to as canning. Many pioneering factories started with fish (Goody 2013, p. 77).

For example, the first bottling factory was in Boston in 1821, which later became a cannery

for lobster and salmon (Shephard 2006, p. 245). Around the same time another English

immigrant opened a salmon, lobster and oyster cannery in New York (Goody 2013, p. 77).

The canning industry continued its important role of feeding armies, from the American Civil

War through to First World War when the German Army were producing eight million cans

of meat per month (Goody 2013, p. 245). It was also an important innovation for colonies in

Australia that addressed the problem of excess cattle meat. In the Mediterranean the long

history of preserving fish, some of which I detailed earlier, meant a smooth transition to tins.

For example, in 1824 a colleague of Appert, Joseph Moulin opened the first fish cannery in

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