Frozen food existed long before this gentleman came onto the scene, but the quality was so bad that New York State even banned it from its prisons. Clarence Birdseye got his breakthrough idea watching fishermen in Labrador preserving their catch for the winter months: the fish was frozen instantly under thick ice, reaching the required temperature of -40°C. But aside from masterminding the method itself, Birdseye was responsible for the creation of a whole series of allied industries: a large-scale distribution chain and logistics (and the USA is a pretty big country) that took into account the need for refrigerators, speedy deliveries and brand new trade processes.
If we think of the quantity (and quality) of frozen foods that fill our stomachs and lives nowadays, this story certainly becomes quite colourful… The green leaves on our fish are a efficacious metaphor of the “evergreen world” that Clarence Birdseye succeeded in imagining and coordinating.
Name Day:
St Syrus