Nicolas Appert, a French chef and confectioner, successfully developed a method of preserving food by heating it in sealed glass bottles, and in 1809, he published his findings in 'L'Art de conserver les substances animales et végétales'. His method, which involved placing food in bottles, corking them, and then boiling them in water, was a breakthrough in food preservation, allowing for long-term storage without spoilage. This invention, born from a government prize for military provisioning, would revolutionize the transport of food, making it possible to ship perishable items across the globe.

Appert's invention of canning marks a turning point in the history of food transport, and while it may not be a direct subject of poetry, it is a crucial piece of background for the globalized world that poets of the 19th and 20th centuries would inhabit. The ability to preserve food in cans meant that the produce of one continent could be consumed on another, a fact that would change diets and cultures. This process of globalization, of which canning was a key part, is a central theme in the poetry of the modern era, from the work of Walt Whitman, who celebrated the bounty of the industrial age, to the critics of globalization in the 21st century.