From Wikipedia's entry on Antoine-Augustin Parmentier: >Parmentier therefore began a series of publicity stunts for which he remains notable today, hosting din

From Wikipedia's entry on Antoine-Augustin Parmentier: >Parmentier therefore began a series of publicity stunts for which he remains notable today, hosting dinners at which potato dishes featured prominently and guests included luminaries such as Benjamin Franklin and Antoine Lavoisier, giving bouquets of potato blossoms to the King and Queen, and surrounding his potato patch at Sablons with armed guards to suggest valuable goods — then instructing them to accept any and all bribes from civilians and withdrawing them at night so the greedy crowd could "steal" the potatoes.