Analysis of The Television Dinner (Essay Sample)

TELEVISION DINNERS
Name
Course
Date
Television Dinners
Introduction
The transformations observed in the food industry attract the attention of learners in understanding the concept of T.V dinners. Frozen meals are readily available foods which require only re-heating before consumptions. The changes in the phases of food transformation originate from the history regarding the innovation of T.V dinners. Mass media, especially televisions, played a crucial role in exposing the world to better recipes of meal preparations. In this case, the report analyzes the societal progress regarding the advertisement and diversification of T.V. dinners through transformational lenses from the ancient period to the contemporary world perspective. The insights of the research focus at addressing the histories, the changes and the current trends of T.V dinners alongside comparisons of the first innovators of frozen Foods. Besides, the paper addresses the relationships between competitive companies associated or linked to T.V dinners in the sixties.
T.V Dinners Historic Background
T.V dinners were complete meals that only required little warming or reheating before eating. The history and innovation of T.V dinners are complicated because it is attributed to two companies and an individual. Swanson Brothers, Maxson Food Systems, and Gerry Thomas are linked to the innovation of T.V dinners. The first innovation of T.V dinners was linked to the Maxson food system in 1945. During the era, Maxson manufactured frozen meals that were identified mainly by “strato-plates.” Such foods were reheated and eaten mostly by military offices and airplane passengers. Maxson food system associated with T.V dinners that consisted of three-part equations comprising of meat, vegetable, and potatoes. The foods were packed in contains each on a different compartment. In as much as the Maxson Food system was classified as a T.V dinner, many Americans of lower social classes never acknowledged it as T.V dinners based on its services to military camps and airplanes. Maxson Food system failed to enter the retail market due to financial struggles and the death of its founder. After the demise of Maxson’s food system founder, Jack Fisher introduced FridgiDinners in the late forties. Unlike Maxson’s Food system, the FridgiDinners operated differently by targeting taverns and restaurants. The operation of Fishers Company never diversified due to inadequate resources and reluctance of the founder to employ excellent leadership skills in the management of the business.
In 1949 two businessmen Albert and Meyer Bernstein partnered to form an organized Frozen Dinner incorporation. The services offered by the company related to T.V dinners that diversified across America later in the 1950s. The passion and commitment subjected by Albert and Meyer Bernstein resulted in the growth of T.V dinners, and by 1950, the company had manufactured more than 400,000 frozen dishes. The operations of the Frozen Dinners expanded in Mississippi after it grew its activities to Quaker State Food Corporation. The history of T.V dinners is associated with Swanson and Sons Company originated in 1954. The launching of advertisement regarding frozen meals in 1954 by Swanson Company made the organization to buy the customer loyalty of clients. The brand created through advertisement facilitated Swanson's organization to diversify its operations, thereby enhancing its linkage to the innovation of T.V dinners. Swanson & Son company came up with the mentality of introducing T.V dinners based on the urgency of fast foods by working-class individuals. In the 1950s, workers had little time breaks that could enhance them to cook meals and eat before returning to work as such, Swanson Company considered the task of saving time for working-class individuals by serving and marketing frozen foods that were easily accessible.
The third person lined to the innovation of T.V dinners is Thomas Gerry. Despite being a senior employee at Swanson & Sons Company, many T.V dinners authors link Gerry with the change of frozen foods across America. The American Frozen Food Institute awarded Gerry an honor as the innovator of T.V dinners. The “Frozen Food Hall of Fame” honor reminds researchers about the role of Thomas Gerry in the innovation of T.V dinners. However, his innovation was disputed after his interview in 1999. Gerry was only responsible for the naming of frozen foods as T.V dinners but not innovation.
Societal Transformation
Societies are slowly moving from traditional values and norms concerning kitchen preparation of meals. Recipes are fast changing and chefs adopt different styles of meal preparation and choices of menus. In 1990s healthy eating was a concern that facilitated the spread of T.V dinners among families. New adverts on frozen meals filled mass media and individuals began depending on T.V dinners as basic diets. Soon, societies will abandon the traditional values of cooking based on the merits and strengths surrounded to television dinners. The delicacy of frozen foods exposes customers to develop addiction attitudes to T.V dinners. In the sixties individuals who introduced T.V dinners aired to their families changed the family tasted from kitchen based meals to frozen diets. Changing their perceptions of T.V dinners was problematic based on the addiction.
Social themes, modernity, family structures, diversity of cultures, technology inventions, and laziness promote the societal progress of abandoning traditional values of cooking and adopting T.V dinners. First, cultural diversity enhances the interaction of people with different norms and values concerning kitchen issues. Teenagers in the current generation are affected mostly by cultural diversity that deprive them the knowledge of traditional values of meals. The invention of the internet has facilitated social media addiction and learning platforms that help in eliminating the conventional aspects of viewing meal preparations. Again, technological advancement of cooking equipment and utensils also ease the transformation of the kitchen from the conventional eyesight to a more modern and advanced environment. Social themes and modernity facilitate the society to adopt new trends of T.V. dinners rather than traditional elements of cooking. Modernity exposes communities to laziness since scientists and innovators are simplifying human labor through the development of new systems and machines.[Verlegh, Peeter W.J., and Math JJM Candel. "The consumption of convenience foods: reference groups and eating situations." Food Quality and Preference 10, no. 6 (1999): 457-464. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0950-3293(99)00042-7] ["Swanson Songs Advanced." The New York Times, May 18, 1954, sec. Archives. https://www.nytimes.com/1954/05/18/archives/swanson-sons-advanced.html.21, 2020.]
Television dinners are readymade- foods that are easily prepared and served to individuals. The meals are also known as frozen dinner or prepackaged foods and they were first developed in 1953 T.V. Brand Frozen dinner. Swanson and Sons Company are linked to the first invention of T.V. dinners. The first ready prepared by Swanson and Sons Company was done in an aluminium tray. The diet was heated in an oven and packed in a plastic material. Understanding the concept of T.V. dinners requires an excellent foundation of the fast-food invention in the U.S. Americans were the first people to associate with ready-made-meals. The program began by preparing frozen peas, sweet potatoes, cornbread, roasted chestnuts, green bean salad, buttermilk cornbread served with sausage and cranberry. The meals were characterized with specific features which included the use of trays covered with aluminium foils and heating of such foods in ovens. The meals were cooked and eaten in the trays that also acted as their packages. Again, the trays were used because most frozen foods were not served for take ways purposes in the first phase of entry in the food industry. Readymade foods were cooked for approximately twenty-five minutes under ovens heated up to two hundred and eighteen degrees Celsius.[“Swanson - Dinners - Turkey.” Accessed February 21, 2020. http://www.swansonmeals.ca/Dinners/turkey.asp.]
T.V Dinner Competitors
After the stabilization of T.V. meals in the society, the competition began among companies, and the traditional image and values of meal preparation changed to modernity. Diets like fried chicken, Salisbury steak, spaghetti, and other Mexican menus were introduced in Swanson and Sons Company. Morton and Banquet were the main competitors of Swanson and Sons Company, and they came up with new ideas for surviving the competitive food industry. The competition between Swanson and Sons Company, Banquet, and Morton resulted in the creation of several changes in coking packaged meals. In 1960 Swanson included desserts in a four-compartment tray. The new technique enhanced the inclusion of brownies and cobbler in dessert menus.
During the initiation of frozen dinner in the U.S., several issues were taking place in society. First, popular (pop) culture was fast spreading in 1953. Second, polio vaccine was in the verge of development when Salk and his family accepted to be used as testing laboratories of the invented polio vaccine. The rumor concerning the role of frozen meals in reducing polio infections among individuals depending on the food facilitated the widespread consumption of T.V dinners by polio patients in the fifties and sixties. Third, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned as the queen of England in 1953 at the same time; as such, the promotion on the consumption of T.V dinners diversified since the royal famil...