The story of frozen foods starts with the familiar Birds Eye brand. Back in the 1920s, Hamilton writes, Clarence Birdseye figured out a quick-freeze method to preserve seafood, vegetables, and fruit on an industrial scale. But until the late 1940s, Birds Eye and its competitors sold frozen foods only to a limited set of high-end consumers. In 1946, Fortune magazine reported that consumers were buying more tons of pickles and sauerkraut than of all frozen foods combined.
That changed fast. In the 1940s, railcar and truck trailer makers constructed mechanically refrigerated transportation, replacing unreliable dry ice. After the end of World War II, demand rose too, thanks to growing family incomes and increasing workforce participation by women.
