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[[File:Edward Pożerski herbu Pomian.jpg|thumb|Edward Pożerski of Clan Pomian (1875–1964), gastroenterologist and gastronome]]
He was born in 1875 in Paris in a Polish noble family and his real name was Edward Pożerski.{{czyt|Edward Pożerski}} His parents were refugees who had fled Poland after the failed anti-Russian uprising of 1863. They sent him to a Polish high school in the French capital, where he was raised as a Polish patriot, but fed rather poorly. He would later write in his memoirs that he was hungry most of his youth. The hunger kept him thinking about food so much that once he graduated from school, he chose to study gastrointestinal physiology at the univeristy. He became a doctor of medicine in 1902. By that time he had already worked for a year at the Pasteur Institute, where he would keep researching digestive juices for most of his life.
[[File:Henryk Babiński.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|left|Henryk Babiński (1855–1931), also known as Ali-Bab, cookbook author]]
His academic work on digestion led to him to take interest in healthy nutrition, which in turn led him to the question of rational food preparation techniques. His mentor in these matters was another Frenchman whose parents had been political refugees from Poland, albeit a generation older. It was Hneryk Henryk Babiński, {{czyt|Henryk Babiński}} a mining engineer, who wrote his cookbooks under the pen name of Ali-Bab. His monumental work, ''Gastronomie pratique'' (''Practical Gastronomy''),<ref> {{Cyt
| nazwisko = Ali-Bab
| tytuł = Gastronomie pratique : études culinaires suivies du Traitement de l'obésité des gourmands
}}</ref> was a best seller in the French culinary literature of the early 20th century.
Encouraged by Ali-Bab, Pożerski decided to publish his own thoughts on how to cook meals that are both tasty and healthy: an essay on theoretical gastronomy. The author of ''Practical Gastronomy'' penned a foreword to the book, where he stated that Pożerski was walking in the footsteps of ``the master of us all, the immortal author of ''The Physiology of Taste''", meaning Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin{{czyt|Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin}} (1755–1826), who was a famous gourmet, but not really a scientist. Brillat-Savarin's work, contrary to the its title, doesn't actually say much about the physiology of taste; it's was more of a suggestion for future scientists to delve into the matter.<ref>{{Cyt
| nazwisko = Brillat Savarin
| imię = Jean-Anthelme
| miejsce = Paris
| rok = 1848
}}</ref> Pożerski's book, entitled, ''Bien manger pour bien vivre'' (''Eat Well to Live Well''), was a first step to this suggestion being taken up. Pożerski argued that cooking ought to be a marriage between the art of gastronomy and the science of gastrotechnique (a word of his own coinage) whose ultimate goal would be to a create a dish that would provide providing maximum pleasure, this thus inducing healthy secretion of digestive juices. ``The discovery of a new dish," wrote Pożerki, quoting Brillat-Savarin, ``does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery of a star."<ref>{{Cyt
| nazwisko = Pomiane
| imię = Édouard de
</mobileonly>
In those times, culinary matters were considered trivial and unbecoming of a scientist. For this reason, Pożerski, who always signed his academic papers with his Polish name, decided, not unlike Babiński, to use a pen name when writing about gastronomy and gastrotechnique. Unlike Babiński, though, he chose a less fairy-tale ''nom de plume'' than ``Ali-Bab". He forged his pseudonym from the French version of his first name and a Frenchified form of the name of his nobility clan, ending up with ``Edouard de Pomiane".{{czyt|Edouard de Pomiane}}
Były to jednak czasy, kiedy sprawy kulinarne uważano za niepoważne i niegodne naukowca, toteż Pożerski, który swoje publikacje naukowe zawsze podpisywał swym polskim imieniem i nazwiskiem, postanowił – podobnie, jak Babiński – pisać o gastronomii i gastrotechnice pod pseudonimem, tylko odrobinę mniej baśniowym niż „Ali-Bab”. Edward Pożerski herbu Pomian utworzył więc swój ''nom de plume'' od francuskiej wersji swego imienia oraz sfrancuszczonej nazwy swego rodu herbowego, a mianowicie: Edouard de Pomiane.{{czyt|Edouard de Pomiane}}
[[File:Edward Pożerski w kuchni.JPG|thumb|upright=.7|Edward Pożerski in his kitchen, with the wooden spoons his mother brought all the way from Siberia]]
Unlike earlier culinary authorities, de Pomiane didn't write for great chefs whose ambition was to rise the
W przeciwieństwie do wcześniejszych kuchennych autorytetów, de Pomiane nie pisał dla wielkich szefów kuchni, których ambicją było wznoszenie się na wyżyny kunsztu kulinarnego i tworzenie uczt godnych monarchów i arystokratów. Jego adresatkami były zwykłe gospodynie domowe, które chciały gotować zdrowo, tanio i do tego smacznie, i jeszcze mieć czas na inne zajęcia. Nowatorskie podejście widać już w samych tytułach jego książek: ''La cuisine en six leçons'' (''Nauka przyrządzania potraw w sześciu lekcjach'') czy ''La cuisine en dix minutes'' (''Kuchnia dziesięciominutowa''). Starej daty mistrzowie garnka i patelni musieli łapać się za głowy czytając, że codzienna kolacja nie musi koniecznie zawierać jednego dania mięsnego i jednego rybnego.