4 ms·
Toaster breakfast history is built on lies and dog food
- snacks_mcgee 4y agoDid a deep, DEEP dive on the history of toaster waffles and toaster pastries and damn there were some fascinating rabbit holes. Like...everyone's wrong about the origins of the toaster itself (it was a Wikipedia hoax that no one noticed for 10 years) AND the toaster waffle (some dude clearly stole the idea and the acclaim from others). Also, the technology that made Pop-Tarts possible was originally meant for a special kind of dog food! First time posting after lurking here for a while, forgive the self-promotional link (it's a deep-dive food history newsletter I write), but this seemed like the sort of oddly interesting thing you fine people would enjoy.
- eesmith 4y agoI found it interesting, though I didn't even know the fake history. The article says the Post R&D department used some of the technology for semi-moist dog food to make Country Squares, and six months later Kellogg introduced Pop-Tarts. Was Kellogg using the same technology as Post? If so, did they get it from reverse-engineering Country Squares? Did Post file a patent on it? If not, do you know why not?
- snacks_mcgee 4y agoGood questions! From what I've read, it sure seems like Kellogg's did just reverse-engineer the whole thing. It doesn't look like Post had patented their process, surprisingly--someone really messed up!