While serving as an army pharmacist for France in the Seven Years' War, he was captured by the Prussians, and in prison in Prussia was faced with eating potatoes, known to the French only as hog feed.
Dok je služio kao vojni ljekarnik u Francuskoj za vrijeme sedmogodišnjeg rata , bio je zarobljen od strane Prusa , te je u zatvoru u Pruskoj bio upoznat sa krumpirom kao namirnicom za prehranu ljudi, dok je u Francuskoj bio poznat samo za ishranu svinja.