European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 2, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                T was 195-1 the new York giants beat. Cleveland in the world series Ernest Hemingway won the Nobel prize for literature on the water fron t s1we it i h e acad e m y awards and a mister Sandma n a n d he in a do s a a hideaway lopped Alae hit Parade. N a a a More significantly the supreme court a. A. Outlawed segregation in schools or Jonas Safe a began inoculating children for polio and most a everybody i i be d i k a. W h o p Resi d e d Ove r o n e of the most prosperous periods in american history. 1 but something you might not have  that year too. A a. A the to dinner quietly became part of the american was of life it s celebrating its 40 the anniversary this year. A a a. A Why exactly at that time Tuvell television for the a most part. A. A. -. A y it was a new and fascinating phenomenon a particularly for children and there were Only three to four hours of new programming each Day generally in. The. Lale afternoon and evening during the dinner a hour and families were virtually living their lives after _ school and after work around the television set preparation for meal time was restricted. A a. It was also the Middle of the baby Boom,-.when ,. Women were either working or car pooling their. Children to school Little league or Ballet lessors. It a was the Start of an Era in which women s place was. Outside the Home As Midi As inside and cooking meals became an afterthought rather than a Way of life. A a the to dinner hardly had the Impact of Brown is. -. A the Board of education or Salk s development of a polio vaccine a. A. A. But it was then 22-year-old Betty Cronin a bacteriologist who has been called the Quot Mother of the _ to dinner,&Quot.who is widely credited with beginning a i what has now become a 51.3  Industry when she was assigned by . Sivan son amp. So n s o f Omaha neb., to test a Fried Chicken dinner on her friends a. The first ones sold for 98 cents in a package Wilh a picture of a to set and were divided into. / compartments because aria Keiers  children did t like.1 the different foods running a. Together a. A Swanson sold 5,000 in 195-1, began mass marketing a a and a year Laler sold 10 million of the quickie me a is Inal Minum containers with a picture Oka Quot housewife Quot dubbed sue Swanson i a a by 1 99 3, with dozens of her prod nets on the a Market 05 million compartmentalized meals alone were sold by that one company mostly Turkey a Salisbury Steak and Fried Chicken the 1 is ref1 items first. A marketed 40 years ago. A 7 7 Quot when we introduced the dinners in 1954. Overcoming women s feelings of guilt for sewing Frozen foods to the family rather than making them from scratch was one Ohhet biggest hurdles we faced Quot. Cronin said. A _ _ a _. _ Quot children loved to dinners. Being Able to choose. Their own kind was a big Deal and eating in front Rotthe television made mealtime More fun and made their moms feel  a l a a c wan son got immediate Competition. Banquet launched a beef dinner in 1.954, and. Specially items were quickly developed Quaker Oats with its aunt Jemima Brand of Frozen pancakes a new Jersey company named. Buitoni which turned out italian specialities and Morton which specialized in poppies. Later came More specially items from Stouffer be menu lean cuisine a Swanson spinoff that have ,. Made Frozen food cabinets one of the busiest spots in any supermarket. Cive some of the credit to Betty Cronin now 65, playing a lot of Golf and serving As a consultant to Campbell soups which bought. Swanson in 1955. A Back in the Early 50s, she was Given the assignment. Of perfecting its piece de resistance Fried  by making the Batter adhere to the Bird when in was -. Frozen inside a cardboard Container. Quot beef and Turkey were relatively easy Quot she says. Quot Chicken was the problem because everyone a compared Fried Chicken to their Mother s and we could t seem to make it that  a. A so Betty Cronin carried on with All the enthusiasm a a 22-year-old can Muster working 1 2-hour Days for eight months on the Sticky problem that would make the Frozen product As Finger Licking Good As mom s. She ate so much at work that she rarely ate at Home. Instead taking the dinners to the Homes of Young friends. Older women she discovered enjoyed cooking everything from scratch Quot some of the Early tries were real duds  got very Strong feelings on them Quot she says Quot but i was a very determined. I knew that i would get the Batter to stick . Beyond Omaha others were testing to dinners on every spectrum of society. Tests were done in 1,200 a households nationwide As Swanson and other a  to  the Impact of television on american society and the new role of working _ women sociologists estimate that a vast majority of the 19 million women who held jobs during work War ii continued to work after the War ended. It was t the first experience with Frozen food Clarence Birdseye developed Frozen vegetables. During the great depression of the 1930s and Libby and a variety of other companies took advantage of the technology developed in a rations and other v prepackaged foods during world War ii to come up. With prefab and Frozen dishes. One example spam a go Staple during the War that found its Way onto tables. Afterwards. A Quot before the official to dinner Here were the pot pics which Cost about 20 cents or so Quot says or. Marshall. Fishwick professor of communications at Virginia tech University. A ,. Quot they were the poor Man s food Quot but entire Frozen meals a Turkey beef or Chicken with All the Trimmin so to speak a was to a great extent the result of Betty Cronin s stick to it . A a a when she got the Batter to stick to the Chicken she provided lha most popular of the Early to dinners nut everyone is so enthusiastic about the Impact of television and the in dinner. A i. Quot television homogenized our accents a and our Tasie in food Quot says or Joe Siekmeier a social historian at a a a Luther College in Decorah Iowa. A. A Fishwick puts it More strongly \ a Quot it is the depersonalization of fond Quot he says a indeed to brought changes and the to dinner was Quot a 1 one of , it wrought. A a. For the first time teen agers would come Home after a school activities and pop a to dinner of their choosing into the oven. The family rarely sat Down together for a family dinner except for holidays.  of microwave Lechno Irgy which began booming a bout 1986, Only enhanced what had become one of Ain Enoa s burgeoning industries. A  Are eaten everywhere including the Kitchen table above which a amp olten propped a a televisions Vars  implements of instant _ y entertainment. Quot Quot but Back when Betty or Vii was developing the product television sets were enormous pieces of furniture and most of the Good programming irom. Howdy Doody to the news with Douglas Edwards or John Cameron Swayze came near the dinner hour. The sets usually fit Only in the living room and the food had to come to the sets. A Siekmeier whose main interest was the cold War attributes the development of to dinners to the spread a of suburbs arid increased commutation that provided less time to Cook and left housewives looking for a a. Quicker ways to prepare  the to dinner in a larger social context. Quot we no longer depend upon the hour of the Day. We re creating an  culture Quot he  can  Home and eat at 11 o  we have undone Mother nature the  a the Calendar Are being bypassed by . A in the 40th anniversary Issue of Frozen fund age an Industry Magazine charts and graphs show the Impact of the to dinner and usage by nursing Homes a hospitals  other institutions More charts. A show the relationship Between Frozen foods and fast. Food. Quot. Brands have come and gone reflecting the times. An example is Rouvelle cuisine to dinners a fashionable through the late 80s and Early 90s. They Are being phased out As people look to More and More old fashioned cooking. A there Are still purists who scorn All but the real a thing. V a a Quot y. Quot i must confess that since my husband died i have tried one or two that friends have recommended but i find them mostly tasteless and Bland with no texture Quot says Ruth Kronman who was raising three children when to dinners were introduced now a Hearty 82, she grew up the daughter of a grocer in Schenectady n.y., considered to dinners a blot on the nation s nutrition Ami never deigned to a serve them at Home. She cooked dinner almost every night and deplored her children s  then a. Quot Gushy Quot while bread was forbidden in her Home. A a. Quot in general i think the eating habits of All of us Are terrible tuday everything is takeout Quot , a who continued her habit of cooking a Quot full meal until a her husband died five years ago. A y a Quot / but the Industry considers her an anomaly. A. What was to become a Way of life was begun. Around the turn of the 20lh Century when Western. Berry growers found that they could freeze their Quot product and ship it East. They could never have imagined what it would Load to. A. Clarke Swanson was a Friend of Clarence Birdseye who perfected Frozen vegetables in the late 3os. He. Had been on a fishing trip and froze some of his catch a and wondered whether he could do the . A. Vegetables he found he could and Birds Eye Frozen a vegetables were born a. The to dinner today might be just a vegetable Ora. Side dish maybe a Complete dinner. It has become a part of life that most people rarely think  in an Era when takeout and fast fond establishments Are a major competitor yith the to dinner. It s sometimes easier to just run to the nearest. Hamburger stand Call the local pizza parlor or chinese restaurant. A a Quot Quot it s a bizarre time. As people live longer and longer ills a hell of a Sot easier to just use a to dinner Quot Fishwick Sav s. Quot we can t lament it As a terrible tragedy. Technology often destroys tradition we re gome in have different eating habits. We just have to make the Best of it we can t rejoice in it. I Lim a Ruc a 18 the stars and stripes saturday july 2, 1994 the stars and stripes