Invention Stories

Search Invention Stories

Advanced Filters

Displaying 25 results for Food and DrinkX

Drawing of ten ice cream cones on a plate, stacked in a pyramid shape.

When you think about it, ice cream is not only a culinary marvel but a technological one as well. Invented long before the days of refrigeration, the...

A handful of peanuts against a black background

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, parents and educators also worried about keeping school-aged children safe from food allergies, especially peanuts—with...

Kretchmer company print ad for bee supplies

According to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, there are between 115,000 and 125,000 beekeepers (hobbyists, part-time, and commercial) in...

A whole Margherita pizza

Living in downtown Washington, DC, during the pandemic means that every day there is news of yet another local restaurant closing its doors. I hear...

Detail of Figure 1, US Patent 1,242,872, showing entrance signage

Navigating a supermarket today is strikingly different than only three months ago. Store layouts designed over the past 100 years encouraged shoppers...

Rectangular black-and-beige plastic box with keypad on right and register tape on left.

As any one of my good friends will tell you, I love talking about my experience working in the food industry. From the time I was legally eligible to...

A handwritten recipe for puffed rice cakes and crisps, by Alexander Anderson, 1904

Right now in Spark!Lab, we’re exploring the theme “Eat.” Watching visitors devise creative new ways to grow, harvest, transport, and cook food has...

George Foreman Grill with lid open, about 1995

With famous boxer George Foreman’s smiling face as its TV pitchman and a catchy marketing name, “the Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine,” the...

Lithographed color coffee labels by Price Bros. and Co.

On October 1, 1917, chemist Charles Wilderman Trigg (1898-1989), wrote in his laboratory notebook at the Mellon Institute, “fellowship renewed for one...

Tappan Model RL-1 microwave oven

It seemed like a simple, straightforward publication request: please write a 1,000 word biography about Percy LeBaron Spencer, the inventor of the...

Photograph of morel mushrooms

Every spring I join thousands of mycological nerds on a hunt. I find myself spending hour after frustrating hour in search of an elusive prize: the...

Vending machine potato chip options.

The potato chip is one of the US’s favorite snack foods. The snack's invention is an interesting legend, but spin-off potato chip inventions are just...

A moka pot.

My family is obsessed with Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. The ubiquitous pink and orange logo is emblazoned in my memory. Grandpa Andy’s routine consists of a...

Charlotte Cramer Sachs

Charlotte Cramer Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany on September 27, 1907. In 1924, she moved to New York, and in 1945, she married Alexander Sachs, an...

Color woodcut of a turkey in profile, with a farmer sharpening his knife in the background

As Thanksgiving approaches, our thoughts naturally turn to traditions—national traditions like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and our own personal...

Color woodcut of a turkey in profile, with a farmer sharpening his knife in the background

On Thanksgiving, Americans consume about 46 million turkeys. The key to serving a perfect bird is getting the interior to just the right temperature...

Martha Stewart and Mario Batali in 2007

A few nights ago, my friend Corinne was making dinner and realized she didn’t have a steamer basket large enough to accommodate the head of...