5-1 Artifact Analysis

I was thinking about what popular culture artifact I would write about this week when I looked down at my lunch. I was hastily eating a microwaveable Smart Ones meal for the fourth day in a row. I realized frozen convenience meals like this have revolutionized society’s eating habits. It seems like society is always looking for ways to make things more efficient and understandably so. Times have changed as people are spending far less time preparing large meals at home. Eating out or ordering in is the new norm, but it’s not always an option for really busy people. I personally do not always take a lunch break from work and end up eating at my desk a lot. Microwave meal manufactures jumped at the opportunity to tap into this market to provide fast meals to time-crunched workers.

Microwave meals are extremely easy and fast to make, so they are great for people on the go. These meals did not become popular until the mid-50s, but frozen foods in general have been around since the ‘20s. Where did frozen food come from? Let me give you a little history on the invention.

Clarence Birdseye (1886 – 1956) was born in Brooklyn, New York. After partially completing his education at Amherst College, he got into the fur-trading business in 1912. Birdseye was in Canada for about five years when he made his discovery of freezing foods (Time Life Books Inc). He observed Eskimos freezing meats in the bitter cold of winter and wanted to research it further. It turns out that quickly freezing foods in extremely low temperatures does not cause cell damage as with the slower freezing processes. This lack of cell damage allows the food to keep its maximum flavor, texture, and color when thawed (Time Life Books Inc.). Birdseye went on to become a renowned technologist, food expert, industrialist, and inventor. When he returned to the United States again, Birdseye perfected a freezing machine to create quality frozen foods for public sale (Time Life Books Inc). Among his many inventions, Birdseye is still best known for his invention of quickly freezing foods.

Microwave meals have come a long way from the earlier products of the twentieth century. Today, you can walk down a frozen foods isle in your grocery store and find a whole side dedicated to microwave meals. There are at least a dozen companies that produce frozen meals and compete for the top selling meals. Thanks to this competition, there is a vast variety of meal options to choose from. I personally prefer the Weight Watchers brand Smart Ones meals as they are very affordable and quite delicious. You can choose from pastas, Asian dishes, Mexican favorites, Panini’s, pizzas, desserts, and more! Several of the microwave meals come in healthier options for those people that watch their calories.

I’m so thankful for these microwave meals. The same old sandwich every day gets old fast. I keep a stockpile of the frozen meals in the freezer at work so I can “pop” one in the microwave any time I need!

References

Time Life Books Inc. (1991). A sudden chill. Inventive Genius, 5(2), 34-36. Retrieved July 31, 2008, from the Academic Search Complete database.

Picture provided by: Smart Ones, Weight Watchers. www.eatyourbest.com/products/productsearch/searchdetails.aspx?sid=2020