[Many processed foods now common in civilian life were first
created by and for the military-industrial complex. Thank Uncle Sam
for Cheetos, air fryers, and other modern mainstays. ]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

FOOD INNOVATIONS THAT CAME FROM WAR  
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Diana Hubbell
May 12, 2023
Atlas Obscura
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_ Many processed foods now common in civilian life were first created
by and for the military-industrial complex. Thank Uncle Sam for
Cheetos, air fryers, and other modern mainstays. _

Trays at the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine’s
Metabolic Kitchen are prepared for an employee taste-testing panel. ,
Sophie Park

 

Whether invented at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center or by
subcontracted private companies, many processed foods now common in
civilian life were first created by and for the military-industrial
complex.

SPAM: Hormel Foods Corporation invented the world’s most famous
canned meat in 1937 to offload a surplus of pork shoulder. SPAM, for
“spiced ham,” took off in a big way, though, when the U.S.
military purchased 150 million pounds of the stuff for troops during
World War II. Since then, the processed meat has become ubiquitous
around the world wherever the U.S. has a strong military presence.
From the Philippines to Okinawa, Guam to South Korea, SPAM has since
grown to become an integrated—and often celebrated—part of the
local cuisine.

M&Ms: During the Spanish Civil War, Forrest Mars Sr. encountered
soldiers eating chocolates shielded from heat by a brittle sugar
shell. After obtaining a patent for candy that “melts in your mouth,
not in your hands” in 1941, the Mars candy company began selling
M&Ms exclusively to the U.S. military.

Air Fryers: The first forced-convection oven, better known as an air
fryer, was a 35-pound, 120-volt Maxson Whirlwind Oven, invented in
1945. William Maxson, a former U.S. Navy midshipman, invented the
device to heat up to six meals at a time. When the military lost
interest, he turned to civilian American households and Pan Am
Airways. After his unexpected death in 1947, the technology
languished, appearing in various formats over the years. In 2008, air
fryers finally hit the mainstream big time, thanks to Philips.

Microwave Ovens: It sounds like an urban myth, but the microwave oven
really was invented by accident. During World War II, a Raytheon
engineer named Percy LeBaron Spencer was fiddling with an active radar
when he noticed that it had melted his candy bar. By 1945, Raytheon
had filed for a patent and by 1947, it had built a working microwave
oven: a refrigerator-sized behemoth called the Radarange.

Freeze-Dried Fruit: Jacques-Arsene d’Arsonval invented freeze-drying
technology in France in 1906, but originally it was primarily used to
preserve blood serum during war. Later Natick Labs would take the
technology and run with it to create lighter, shelf-stable foods for
space travel for NASA.

Cheetos: All sorts of processed cheese products have directly or
indirectly come out of the U.S. military’s efforts. After dehydrated
cheese powder was developed in 1943 by a USDA scientist, the military
stocked up on the stuff and wound up with a giant surplus post-World
War II. They sold off bunches of it to Frito-Lay in 1948, which
started frying them up into the familiar knobbly snacks.

Instant Coffee: Satori Kato, a Japanese-American chemist, came up with
a stable water soluble coffee powder in 1901, but the product boomed
thanks to the U.S. military purchasing 37,000 pounds a day of it
during wartime.

Gastro Obscura covers the world’s most wondrous food and drink.

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