Because food has always been with us, it’s somewhat counter-intuitive to realize that food science is a relatively new discipline. While we occasionally allude to “ancient food scientists” discovering things like cooked meats and fermented foods, in reality food science as a formal study only began in earnest in this country in the middle of the last century (although it had its roots in 1894, when the first U.S. federal funding of human nutrition research in the United States occurred, a whopping $10,000). That’s about the same time nuclear science was born and the first computers were being developed. And while certain foods, like Jello gelatin and Campbell’s soup have also been around since the late 1800s, conventional wisdom says that the end of World War II ushered in the era of modern food processing when the demand for convenience products grew exponentially.
Perhaps, I’m only hitting that life stage when you start to be on the receiving end of those incredulous “You mean you didn’t have cars/ record players/cake mix/ seat belts/transistor radios/frozen pizza, antilock brakes/MP3 players/ microwavable pouches when you were growing up?” statements by younger generations. The concept really hit home when I was searching the web for contact information for a member of the food-science faculty at my old alma mater, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (which, then was always known as Champaign- Urbana ... but I digress, as I believe old folks are prone to do) and was sidetracked by http:// www.fshn.uiuc.edu/dept/history/index.html, a history of the department.
I admit, I’ve been a bit of a lazy alumnus and never looked at my education in a historical context. Sure, as an student there in the ’70s, we alternately scoffed at and were frightened by the ancient, dark Dairy Manufacturing Building and the equally ancient, semi-mysterious equipment secreted therein, thinking it belonged in a museum. (That was before I went out in the real world and had to deal with equipment nearly as old.) But as I looked at the 50-, 60- year-old department history, I recognized many of the names as people I studied under: Drs. Tobias, Ordal, Porter, Siedler, Argoudelis, Johnston, Klein, Perkins, Wei, Cheryan and Erdman (my apologies to those omitted). Many have passed on to the Big Food Lab in the Sky, some have retired and still others seem to have morphed over the years into my contemporaries. And many of you have similar lists, though the schools and the names are different.
I recently was discussing some aspect of the food industry with a newcomer, and they remarked how much I seemed to know about it. While I’m certain that a “few” years of experience had something to do with it, I’ve also recognized that the group of people I’ve mentioned not only gave me a foundation, but sparked my continuing interest in food science. So, to those living and those who are only a cosmic glimmer, I offer my belated thanks for a fascinating career. And for your similar lists, I offer yours, too.
While the industry, its technology and its direction continues to transform, it’s somehow satisfying to remember how we got here, instead of focusing solely on where we are going.
