Technology through Time
Fahrenheit 312 |
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In light of recent fad diets, scorched bread may not be the ideal theme for an exhibit for the Nutrition Coalition. However, while too much of anything is not good for you (especially white carbs) toast has an interesting history, not only about we eat, but about technology, innovation, and cultural change. By looking at the history of the electric toaster, we see large-scale changes in what Americans eat, and we realize the important but seemingly innocent history of food. It’s just a toaster, you may say, but by understanding the context of the time that gave birth to the electric toaster, the years in which the electric toaster grew in popularity, and the reasons for the growth of the electric toaster, we learn a lot about what Americans eat, and in the case of American history, the food on the table speaks volumes about our lives.
What is toast?
The scientific definition of toast is bread that has been heated to 312 degrees Fahrenheit (hence the title of this exhibit). At 312 degrees, the bread undergoes the Maillard reaction and begins to carbonize. This is what gives toast its distinct color, aroma, flavor, and texture.
How old is toast?
Food historians credit the Egyptians with discovering bread approximately 6000 years ago. It’s probably safe to assume that people have been putting bread over fire for as long, but most people date toast to the Romans from about 2000 years ago. In addition to its wonderful flavor, toasting bread also extends the life of bread by preserving it.
How old is the toaster?
The Grains Food Foundation recently created an online exhibit called “Toasting the Toaster.” The exhibit went up on their website in November 2005 to honor both National Bread Month and the supposed 100th anniversary of the first electric toaster. However, some toaster collectors claim that the first electric toaster appeared in 1895. Regardless of who stakes claim to the first toaster, we do know that the first commercially successful electric toaster was General Electric’s 1909 D-12. Prior to the year 1905, when Albert Marsh patented Nichrome (a nickel and chrome alloy), the heating elements of toasters were probably made of iron. Such a set-up was inefficient and unsafe. Nichrome is a material that can reach high temperatures (such as 312 degrees) without smoking or causing an overt fire hazard.
Why are toasters collectors items?
Unlike many other electric household appliances such as irons, refrigerators, washing machines, and sewing machines, the electric toaster did not have a non-electric pre-cursor. There were commercially manufactured items that allowed their user to hold bread over an open fire, but one could just as easily make these items as buy them at the store. The lack of blueprint for the toaster gave electric toaster innovators wide latitude in design. It is for this reason that electric toasters remain such a popular collectible. It is also for this reason that even today we buy toasters as much for how they look on our counter for how well they carbonize sliced bread.
If we look at almost all technological innovations from the beginning of the 20th century, we see that design was an important aspect. This has as much to do with a keen marketing sense as it does with aesthetic sense. If a design became popular, its designer could collect royalties for many years, even if they had nothing to do with the toaster’s inner-workings. This created huge diversity in toaster type and style, as these toasters on display hint at. Today, toasters are a much sought after collectors item.
What other food innovations made toast more popular?
Besides electricity, other innovations had to occur before toasters would gain widespread popularity. Most important was the advent of sliced bread in the 1930. In fact, the year after Wonder began selling sliced bread, Americans bought over one million toasters. Other cultural changes that continue to affect our toasters are ethnic foods that are continually introduced to all Americans. Today, if you were to buy a new toaster, it would probably have a bagel setting (so it toasts only one side). Such a thing would be unheard of only a few decades ago, when most Americans thought bagels were a singularly Jewish food. Acceptance of ethnic foods has hugely influenced American eating in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Another big change in eating over the past century has been increased consumption of convenience foods. The Goldman-Sachs Trading Corporation and the Postum Company introduced Birdseye frozen dinners in 1930, but it was not until Eggo introduced its frozen waffles in the late 1930s that the electric toaster found another use. Another convenient breakfast food that revolutionized the toaster was Pop Tarts in the early 60’s. These convenience foods kept electric toasters flying off the shelves. However, why is it that only breakfast foods have been popular in the toaster? Marketers have tried to make toastables for other meals, but the American public never seemed too interested. Perhaps there is something quintessentially breakfast about the toaster.
Bibliography
Veersbeck, Jens. The International Central Services Toaster Museum. www.toastermuseum.com
Eric Norcross, Greg Jackson, Kelly Godfrey. The Toaster Museum Foundation. 2005. www.toaster.org
Patterson, Kristin and Kelly Burke. Toasting the Toaster. Grain Foods Foundation. 2005.
Wohleber Curt. “Object Lessons: The Toaster.” American Heritage of Invention and Technology. Fall 2005.