It seems the inventor of the frozen french fry, J.R. Simplot, has died. It seems he wound up with a billion dollar fortune off this invention (primarily through McDonald's) even though it's the kind of thing I wouldn't have even thought of as having "been invented" as such.
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Frozen Fries
26 May 2008 11:48 am
Comments (17)
I once had a job working in an frozen-orange juice plant. But they fired me because I couldn't concentrate.
In the full article, it explains that his chemist actually invented the process. And it sounds like the problem wasn't freezing fries, but producing ones that would taste good upon reheating. Also, Simplot was already a big-time potato grower at that time.
Naturally you wouldn't respect the fruits of research and hard-won innovation, Yglesias.
Spurred by the interest shown in his onion-drying facilities by the Quartermaster Corps, Simplot immersed himself and his resources into discovering a way to dehydrate potatoes, developing, after considerable experimentation, a revolutionary method to peel and dry potatoes efficiently and expeditiously... During the 1950s, Simplot researchers developed a method to freeze potatoes...
And Mr. Simplot had a hilltop home in Boise, complete with enormous American flag whose flapping in the wind could be heard several blocks away. Mr. Simplot is alleged to have said "Nobody should own as much land as I do".
Matthew,
If you haven't before (and really, as a good lib, it's unconscionable if you haven't), you ought to read Fast Food Nation. Schlosser does a great job explaining how revolutionary Simplot's work was in figuring out how to cultivate, grow, and process potatoes in a consistent enough fashion to always produce the same flavor, each and every time you fry up a batch of McDonalds fries.
Living things have this nasty habit of growing the way they want to, rather than the way you want them to, so figuring out how to get the potatoes to behave consistently, batch after batch, was actually quite an accomplishment.
I know that I, for one, will be eating a Value Menu-sized batch of America this afternoon in Simplot's memory...
A couple of other fortunes from simple inventions:
Dental floss - the dentist who invented it was named Kutza; his fortune allowed his son Michael at the age of 21 in 1963 he start the Chicago Film Festival, which he runs to this day
Liquid paper - Ever wonder why there has never been a full Monkees reunion tour? It's because Michael Nesmith's mother, a secretary, invented liquid paper, amassing a fortune passed on to her son, making the need for him to be a Monkee his whole life unnecessary.
of course in another time Thoreau (yes, that Thoreau) developed the process that mixed graphite and clay to make pencils workable but didn't stick around for the cash.
It does bother me a bit that those (like our host) with an academic tilt tend to value functional innovations that make new things possible like working pencils or liquid paper or frozen fries less than highly engineered top driven innovation.
Red@cted-
That home was donated to the state of Idaho for use as a governor's mansion. Does the state still allow sledding on the front lawn?
Gene, I'm not sure why you don't consider working pencils a significant innovation. Or are you being ironic?
Instead of being cremated in the customary manner, Simplot's body will be deep fried in 450-degree vegetable oil until crispy on the outside.
One that I always found as somewhat odd…the fortune made from the invention of Cream of Tartar. Vincent Price grandfather, the grandfather of the movie actor, invented Cream of Tartar powder, calling it Dr. Price's Baking Powder. Why I found it odd is that it’s in the spice section along with other spices that have been around for hundreds of years. You don’t think of anyone actually inventing spices or similar things used for baking purposes. To say it, it almost sounds like a joke.
The frozen French fry is a pathetic often disgusting thing. I am old enough to recall the real French frys at McDonalds and they were goooooood. Now McDonalds frys suck. Not as bad as some but they suck.
So some guy makes billions purveying crap. How American.
As I recall he was at the head of the line calling for construction of the Teton Dam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teton_Dam
Thanks JR. Oh,and let me guess. He was small government fanantic of the most rabid kind.
He's also responsible for getting Idaho tagged as the Potato state. Cf. Napoleon Dynamite: "Look, Pedro, I don't know how they do things down in Juarez, but here in Idaho we have a little something called pride. Understand? Smashing in the face of a pinata that resembles Summer Wheatley is a disgrace to you, me, and the entire Gem State." Substitute 'rabid corporate potato branding' for 'smashing in a pinata' and that's about right.
In the Boise airport, they have (had?) a french fry vending machine. The fries are (were?) fried fresh and tasted pretty good.
rapier, how old are you? I remember the good old days when McDonald's still fried with beef tallow, and I remember the change, and thinking that the fries weren't quite as good, though still better than others. But I don't think I could confidently assert the impression I had 17 years ago.
Comments closed June 09, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Meanwhile, the guy who invented cannibalism died broke and digested.
Posted by Reality Man | May 26, 2008 11:54 AM