Prompt Cast
The Rise and Fall of Convenience Foods in America
TLDR Convenience foods such as TV dinners, Jell-O, crock pots, and oat bran products gained popularity in America due to factors such as the rise of television, the convenience they offered working moms, and health claims. However, some of these trends were short-lived and resulted in strange and unappetizing food combinations.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
TV dinners were a special treat for the host as a child, and they were associated with his parents doing something special or going out.
04:47
TV dinners became popular in America after Swanson had an excess of turkey and needed to find a way to use it all, leading to the creation of frozen meals that could be easily reheated.
09:49
The inventor of the TV dinner, Jerry Thomas, added two more compartments to the tray and created a frozen Thanksgiving dinner, which became a marketing success due to the popularity of television and the association of having a TV dinner with being upper middle class.
14:46
Swanson sold 10 million TV dinners in the first year of production, which was a huge success and coincided with a time when women were re-entering the workforce.
20:14
Gelatin, specifically Jell-O, gained popularity as a convenience food in the post-war era, but it was initially a gourmet food that required boiling animal bones to make, until Peter Cooper invented a dehydrated gelatin powder in the 19th century.
25:28
Jell-O gained popularity with the invention of refrigeration and the help of advertising, leading to the release of different flavors and the creation of Jell-O pudding; Jell-O shots were supposedly invented in the 1950s by Tom Lehrer, but they are generally considered to be gross; Jell-O also ventured into savory flavors during a post-World War II movement.
30:25
Jell-O molds became popular in the 50s and 60s due to food companies wanting to showcase their products in unique ways, resulting in strange and often unappetizing combinations like lamb shank and asparagus in Jell-O, and lime Jell-O with tuna and coleslaw.
35:32
The popularity of crock pots in the 1970s was due to the convenience they offered working moms, despite the fact that the meals often didn't taste great, until Mabel Hoffman wrote a book called "Crockery Cookery" that provided tips for making crock pot meals taste better, resulting in a genuine food craze and the crock pot earning millions of dollars in sales.
40:31
The oat bran trend in the 80s was fueled by studies claiming it was a miracle food for lowering cholesterol, leading to the release of numerous products containing oat bran and even a book called "The Eight Week Cholesterol Cure" that became popular.
45:43
The oat bran trend in the 80s was fueled by studies claiming it was a miracle food for lowering cholesterol, leading to the release of numerous products containing oat bran and even a book called "The Eight Week Cholesterol Cure" that became popular.
Categories:
Society & Culture
