While serving as an army pharmacist[2][3] 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.

His prison experience came to mind in 1772 when he proposed (in a contest sponsored by the Academy of Besançon) use of the potato as a source of nourishment for dysenteric patients.

In 1779, Parmentier was appointed to teach at the Free School of Bakery to help stabilize Paris's food supply by making bread in a more cost-efficient fashion.

[7] Parmentier then began a series of publicity stunts for which he remains notable today, hosting dinners at which potato dishes featured prominently and guests included Benjamin Franklin and Antoine Lavoisier.

[10][11][12] Parmentier's agronomic interests covered a wide range of opportunities to ameliorate the human lot through technical improvements; he published his observations touching on bread-baking, cheese-making, grain storage, the use of cornmeal (maize) and chestnut flour, mushroom culture, mineral waters, wine-making, improved sea biscuits, and a host of other topics of interest to the Physiocrats.

[15] At Montdidier, his bronze statue surveys Place Parmentier from its high socle, while below, in full marble relief, seed potatoes are distributed to a grateful peasant.