Food inventions, part two
So there you are, holding something in your hand and thinking: who comes up with this? Who was the first person to spin cotton candy? And who had the brilliant idea of making popcorn in the microwave?
Whirling sugar around at high speed
In French, it’s called barbapappa, in Afrikaans spookasem… Cotton candy, then. Who comes up with that? The electric cotton candy machine was first patented in 1899, invented by John Wharton and William Morrison from Nashville. Essentially a simple device: an electric heater where the sugar melts and a motor to fling it around. A revolution, the first candyfloss machine was called, although it was still known as fairy floss at the time.
Anti-bombardment or fresh popcorn
Percy Spencer already had more than 100 patents to his name, but his best-known invention happened by accident. He was working on the development of microwave radars that could improve radar systems and help limit the bombing of London by the Germans. Strangely enough, a chocolate bar he had in his breast pocket suddenly melted while he was working on those wave gadgets. Percy immediately understood: microwaves could also heat food. The company he worked for applied for a patent on the microwave oven in 1945. His fellow researchers made the very first microwave meal: popcorn.
Morse code on the groceries
Beep. Beep. Beep. And would you like to collect stamps too? Without barcodes, grocery shopping at the supermarket would be very different. The barcode was invented by Norman Joseph Woodland. He was inspired by the Morse code he learned as a Boy Scout, and developed the idea into a code made up of thick and thin lines. He applied for a patent in 1952, but lasers capable of reading those codes did not arrive until 1972.
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