From the moment of the appearance of the first controlled fire in cooking to the modern staples of refrigeration, food inventions have helped shape our civilization. These inventions didn’t just change what we eat, but also transformed how we live and work in society. Get ready to feel amazed as we bring you 12 of the most revolutionary inventions in food history.
12. Microwave Oven
Can you ever imagine a modern kitchen without a microwave? Thanks to American engineer Percy Spencer, who was working on radar technology, he noticed that a chocolate bar from his pocket had melted in 1945. He concluded microwaves to be responsible, thus the birth of the microwave oven. By the 1970s, they became a kitchen staple as they heated leftovers and created a lot of convenience foods.
11. Irrigation
Rainfall isn’t always reliable. In the earliest civilizations, they used the power of rivers to water crops. Those early irrigation systems involved canals and ditches that allowed the growth of crops and the production of food. Today, irrigation involves drip and precision sprinklers that deliver water directly to plant roots. They increased crop yields while conserving water.
10. Grinding and Milling
Did you know that grinding and milling used to date back to the Stone Age? Yup, it even involves a mortar and pestle. Our ancestors used to break down grains, seeds, and other ingredients into powders. Meanwhile, the invention of the quern, which is a hand-cracked mill, made it possible to produce flour on a large scale.
9. Oven
The earliest oven dates back to 29,000 BC in Central Europe. With this, ancient Greeks developed the front-loading bread ovens, and by the Middle Ages, they used brick and tile. The 19th century actually brought the cast iron stove and later on, the gas and electric ones. This allowed for new cooking methods of baking and roasting. Today, smart ovens with precise temperature controls are the new kitchen gadget.
8. Combine Harvester
Harvesting crops used to be more back-breaking and labor-intensive in the past. But that all changed upon the invention of the combine harvester. It’s a machine that combines the tasks of reaping, threshing, and winnowing in a single process. It was first invented in the United States in 1834, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that they became a common sight on farms. This allowed farmers to harvest crops on a massive scale with just a fraction of labor. Today, they even have GPS, sensors, and data analytics.
7. Baking
Ancient Egyptians are credited with discovering the leavening power of yeast. They baked the first sourdough bread in 6000 BC. With that, the Greeks and Romans turned them into an art form, and by the Middle Ages, baking guilds appeared in many European cities. Later on, enclosed ovens were invented with the development of commercial yeast and refined flours.
6. Fire and Controlled Cooking
The control of fire is the most fundamental of all food inventions. This occurred 1.5 million years ago to make eating safer and kill harmful bacteria. This also played an important role in the development of the human brain! From simple open fires to the modern gas range, controlling heat has been the foundation of cooking.
5. Agriculture
Humans have and will always be hunter-gatherers as we move to search for food. In the Fertile Crescent, which is a region in the Middle East, our ancestors cultivated plants and domesticated animals, thus marking the birth of agriculture. It allowed for the production of food surpluses that led to the development of villages, cities, and the society we’re in today. Today, agroculture is a global industry with continuing technologies to feed a growing population.
4. Canning
Back in 1795, Napoleon Bonaparte offered a cash prize to anyone who could invent a way to preserve food for the army. The winner was a French chef named Nicolas Appert, who invented the method of sealing food in glass jars and heating them in boiling water. A few years later, Peter Durand applied the same process to tin cans. It allowed the preservation of food for long periods without refrigeration.
3. Pasteurization
Pasteurization was first developed by French scientist Louis Pasteur back in 1862. The process involves heating liquids to a specified temperature to kill harmful bacteria without affecting the nutritional value. The process was soon applied to milk, which used to be a common source of diseases.
2. Refrigeration
People used to struggle to preserve food before the invention of refrigerators. The first artificial form of refrigeration was credited to Glasgow in 1748, but it wasn’t until the early 20th century that they became a common household appliance. This invention allowed people to store fresh produce longer and transport it across the country.
1. Bread Making
The earliest evidence of bread-making dates back centuries, predating agriculture itself. It was the ancient Egyptians who perfected the art of bread-making through leavening yeast and making the first sourdough. The Romans later on made bread-making into a large-scale industry, and by the Middle Ages, bread became a staple of the European diet.