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It began with a turkey-filled transcontinental train. In late 1953, executives of the Swanson company had quite the conundrum on their hands: ten refrigerated train cars full of 260 tons of leftover Thanksgiving turkey. While staffers agonized over what to do, the cars had to be hauled back and forth between Nebraska and the East Coast in order to keep them cool, stuck in a rail-riding purgatory. Unfortunately, no sides were around to make some savory sandwiches. Instead, it would take one man’s ingenuity to save the frozen birds and change American dinner culture in the ensuing decades.
Swanson TV Dinner Ads
Swanson salesman Gerry Thomas, noticing the company’s surplus dinner dilemma, allegedly conjured up a culturally altering plan. The pesky turkeys could be paired with other holiday sides like peas and potatoes in an aluminum tray that could be heated in the oven. Swanson bacteriologist Betty Cronin then engineered the processes necessary for all foods in the tray to be cooked properly. While there is some debate as to how much Thomas was involved in the creation of the product, there’s no arguing over the fact that in 1954 Swanson sold over 10 million turkey dinners.
📸: Marjorie Becker (left)
Though frozen meals had existed on airplanes and other ventures since the 1920s, the Swanson frozen dinners happened at a pivotal period in time. Women were beginning to enter the workforce in greater numbers in the 1950s, and a new entertaining invention was entering the U.S. home: the television. Thus, the “TV Dinner” was born. In 25 minutes, a plated dinner could be cooked and ready for a whole family just in time for their favorite programming. While Food critics at the time were aghast, the time and energy-saving capabilities of frozen meals were a hit with the general public. In the ensuing decades, cooking times and cooking methods for TV Dinners would change, but they have remained on the shelves.
It’s strange to realize that the American Thanksgiving table, usually full of home-cooked entrees and sides entailing many minutes of work, we have to thank for our speedy dinners. In a season where many give thanks for a variety of reasons, Swanson employees have Thanksgiving to thank every year.
