The Little-Known Origin Of TV Dinners
NEWS
By ELIAS NASH
TV dinners, popular frozen meals of the past, have recently made a comeback. However, their origins began with Clarence Birdseye, the father of the modern frozen food industry.
Birdeye was inspired by how Canada’s indigenous Inuits used their naturally frigid climate to freeze fish to preserve their quality, only to reheat them later.
He founded Birdseye Seafoods in 1924, selling frozen fish in freezer cases. His flash-freezing method was later adopted by Maxson Food Systems Inc.
Maxson Food Systems Inc. developed “Strato-Plates” for the military — a plastic plate with three compartments for meat, vegetables, and potatoes intended to be eaten on planes.
There were several other types developed in the ’40s, including Jack Fisher’s FridgiDinners, but TV dinners properly exploded in popularity in 1953 because of the Swanson company.
After a disastrous lag in Thanksgiving sales, the company was left with 260 tons of turkey. Swanson soon packaged leftover turkey with cornbread stuffing and sweet potatoes.
The meal was then sold in aluminum trays for easy reheating. This was possible thanks to bacteriologist Betty Cronin’s efforts in perfecting a method to avoid food-borne illnesses.
The idea has been credited to Swanson salesman Gerry Thomas. He was said to have come up with the notion after being served a meal while on a plane.
However, the descendants of Swanson executives Clarke and Gilbert Swanson claimed that the brothers came up with the idea. Gilbert is said to have had the same airplane epiphany.
