Hank Green Eats 100 Years Of Food Science

The fifth taste, umami, was identified in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda, who isolated glutamic acid from kelp. This led to the creation of monosodium glutamate (MSG) by Ajinomoto. While initially marketed to Japanese housewives, MSG's significant success in America came from its adoption by the industrial food sector, with companies like Campbell and Heinz becoming major buyers. Despite widespread anti-Asian racism contributing to the 'Chinese restaurant syndrome' myth, there is no factual basis for MSG being inherently bad, as it's a naturally occurring compound in many foods like cheese and tomatoes.

Kikunae Ikeda's 1908 discovery, Ajinomoto's 1910 marketing, Campbell and Heinz as major 1930s buyers, the host's direct tasting of pure MSG and its association with childhood foods.

Clarence Birdseye, an American naturalist, observed Inuit tribes in Labrador flash-freezing fish in negative 50-degree winds, preserving their texture and flavor. He realized that rapid freezing prevented large ice crystals from forming and rupturing cell walls, a common problem with conventional slow freezing. Birdseye developed the double-belt spiral freezer, enabling mass production of high-quality frozen foods. This technology, initially slow to adopt due to lack of home freezers, gained immense traction during World War II as women entered the workforce and canned goods were rationed for troops, driving demand for convenient, preserved foods.

Birdseye's observations in Labrador, invention of the double-belt spiral freezer, impact of WWII on frozen food adoption due to women in workforce and rationing.

The microwave oven was invented by Percy Spencer in 1945, a self-taught electrical engineer at Raytheon, who was instrumental in magnetron production for WWII radar. The accidental melting of a candy bar in his pocket during magnetron testing led to the idea. Initially marketed as a 'space age' appliance, the microwave offered unique cooking properties that were largely unexplored due to a later 'back to nature' backlash in the 1970s, which associated it with unnatural, processed food, limiting its perception to merely reheating leftovers.

Percy Spencer's role at Raytheon, 1945 patent, anecdote of the melting candy bar, early marketing as 'space age' technology, 1970s environmental movement backlash.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) was developed in the 1950s by the Clinton Corn Processing Company, using an enzyme to convert glucose into sweeter fructose. Its widespread adoption in the 1970s was a confluence of factors: a massive post-WWII corn surplus (partially driven by a 1971 trade agreement with the USSR for soft power), and a 1972 sugarbeet crop failure in the USSR that caused global sugar prices to spike. HFCS offered a cheaper, stable, and sweeter alternative, leading to its ubiquitous presence in processed foods, despite later public health concerns and attempts to rebrand it as 'corn sugar'.

Clinton Corn Processing Company's 1950s development, 1971 USSR trade agreement, 1972 sugarbeet crop failure, FDA blocking 'corn sugar' rebranding.

The genetically modified purple tomato, developed by biochemist Kathy Martin of Norfolk Healthy Produce over 20 years, incorporates genes from snapdragon flowers to produce anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants also found in blueberries. Unlike the failed 1994 Flavor Saver GMO tomato, which lacked flavor and faced public skepticism ('Frankenfood'), the purple tomato is designed for home gardeners, offering visible health benefits and superior taste. This approach aims to overcome widespread negative perceptions of GMOs by providing a demonstrably better product that consumers can grow themselves, shifting the narrative from industrial agriculture to personal health and choice.

Norfolk Healthy Produce, Kathy Martin's 20-year project, snapdragon genes for anthocyanins, contrast with 1994 Flavor Saver tomato, marketing as seeds for home gardens.