March is National Frozen Food Month, so let’s take a look at some fun facts about these foods that we all love to eat:
- Clarence Birdseye is considered to be the founder of frozen foods. In 1912, he moved to Labrador and saw how the Inuit iced fish beneath very thick layers of ice, at -40° He found that the fish was iced quickly and it tasted fresh when thawed. After comparing their fish with the poorer quality/slow frozen fish back in New York, he decided it was time to start a new business. In 1927, he extended the flash-freezing process to vegetables, chicken, meat, and fruits.
- S. frozen food sales topped $70 billion in 2022. That is a 31% increase over 2019 pre-pandemic sales!
- The company, Ore-Ida, invented “Tater Tots” as a way to use excess potato shavings from when they make their crinkle-cut fries.
- Maxon Food Systems started making some of the first frozen dinners in 1945. Their meals were served to passengers on airplanes and were never sold to the public. In 1954, Swanson’s introduced the “TV dinner” to the public and a whole new industry was born.
- The Celentano brothers, who owned an Italian specialty store in Newark, are believed to be the first to have marketed frozen pizza in 1957.
- Eggo waffles were invented by Anthony, Sam and Frank Dorsa. When they first popped up on the market in 1953, they were originally named “Froffles” (a combination of “frozen” and “waffles”). Customers started calling them Eggos, because the egg flavor stuck out more to them. So, if you’re wondering why they’re called Eggos, it’s because the Dorsa brothers believed “the customer is always right!”
