FUN WITH MAPS ISSUE 2024-124

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (July 3, 2024) – In this edition of Fun with Maps we trace the history of frozen foods and the once-popular TV Dinners.

A CHILLING HISTORY

In 1924, Clarence Birdseye founded a company called General Seafood Company which became the basis for the frozen food industry.  Originally used for freezing and selling fish, his fast flash-frozen method he learned from Native Americans became the basis for freezing foods of all varieties. 

Once home freezer cabinets became widely available in the late 1930s, the new method of food storage and preparation introduced a new home storage and preparation category to the country.

The seafood company was bought up by Postum in 1929, and Birdseye went on to head up their “frosted foods” division.  Postum had begun to buy various food companies: General Seafood, along with Walter Baker and his chocolate company, Maxwell House coffee, Jell-O, and the Post cereal brands, and so on.  They collectively went on to become General Foods.

Separately, in 1945, the first complete frozen meal was invented to serve airline passengers, but Swanson coined the term TV dinner. 

Finally, two inventors, Totino and Tombstone, introduced frozen pizza to the public, and though they were more widely distributed, the honor belongs to the Celentino Brothers who first marketed their frozen pizza in their New Jersey establishment in 1957.

Birdseye spent his ‘frozen’ days in Newfoundland in Canada.  So here is a map of Newfoundland, along with Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI (email Chuck if need to know the full name) by Colton from 1855. ADD NOTE: Or see image caption below for PEI

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.