Reading Maketh a Full Man...

PIcked this up at Half Price Books. We had a discussion at dinner the other night about where TV dinners came from and why we don't eat them. So when I found this book, it popped up and demanded to be purchased so we could continue the discussion, now with REAL FACTS. Well, this book turned out to be an interesting lesson in the history of food. Some of the food listed in the book was developed for the war effort (WWII) and then was marketed to the peace-time home front Americans. Some food was developed because new packaging was available and made the food novel and "time saving". And some food was developed because of technology that allowed the food to last longer.The history of each food item (and I use that term loosely) is provided, along with marketing ploys and ways to encourage housewives to use them. I found out that some food moved into our recipes and pantries because of packaging (pillsbury poppin fresh dough, PAM, Lipton cup-a-soup), some foods were an attempt to improve natural foods (coffee-mate, tang, wonder bread), other foods were developed for longevity (twinkies, SPAM, ore-ida tater tots), and then some foods were just marketed into existence (Swanson TV dinners, jell-o, spaghettiO's).Some fun tidbits that I learned? SPAM was developed in 1926 as a way to provide the American public with the very first canned ham. It was a popular food during the depression-era because of its low price. GI's in WWII that were fed with the wonder meat called it "ham that didn't pass its physical" or "meat loaf without basic training". But the most interesting use of SPAM? GI's used it to grease their guns!