Unless you have live in some very remote part of the Amazon Rain Forest or on the most isolated island in the Pacific, you won’t be able to remember a time when the majority of the things you used or consumed didn’t come out of a can or package. We are a world of packers. If you shop for food in a supermarket, you can still buy produce that has not been pre-wrapped but everything else comes sealed or at least contained in a package of some sort.
Packing and preserving food began in modern history because armies needed a way to carry their food with them as they moved further and further away from supply depots. Napoleon’s army became too spread out to be supplied daily with fresh food and the resources of the land were quickly depleted. In 1795, the French government offered a reward to anyone who could come up with a way to preserve and carry food. In 1809, a Parisian named Nicholas Appert perfected a way of preserving food by partially cooking, then sealing the food in glass bottles which he immersed in boiling water. At about the same time (1810) in England Peter Durand received a patent from the British government for preserving food in tin coated iron cans. Fifty years later Louis Pasteur would be able to explain why canning preserved food by removing and keeping microorganisms away from the food until it was eaten.
Canned food processing and food preservation makes going to war easier and has been used since the mid 1800’s to supply troops with a nutritious, safe food source. Canned food storage was especially important to navy vessels that remained at sea for extended periods of time. A can opener was part of the standard issue for WW II GI’s. Even today having a very portable source of food is important to successful military operations. Although, a WW II vet would find the MRE’s US armed forces carry today far different from their front line menu, nutritious food is still a military priority.
While the fighting forces went off to war with preserved food, the civilians at home were finding all kinds of things to do with food and beverages in cans. The French came up with the idea of food preservation; the British developed the container that became universal for packaging; but the Americans perfected food and drink in cans.
Canned food products have evolved from thick walled heavy containers that one needed a hammer to open to the very thin cans we see on our grocery shelves today. Early on it became clear that a better way of opening this wonderful source of nourishment needed to be found. The first cans were heavy metal and instructions suggested using a chisel and hammer. By the 1860’s cans were being mass produced with thinner sheets of rolled tin coated steel. Cans were now easier to puncture. In 1853 Ezra Warner invented a can opener which cut around the outer edge of the can but was only used by store clerks to open cans as they were purchased. William Lyman invented the modern can opener in 1870 which looks basically the same today except that the cutting edge was changed to a serrated blade by the Star Canning Company of San Francisco in 1925.
Cans are not only a convenient way to carry and store food, but they have become a way to decorate your kitchen as well. Many home owners doing a kitchen cabinet refacing project elect to have glass in their kitchen cabinet doors, or remove the door altogether. Then the cans in the cabinets become like a piece of art.
This article was written by Kay who is a regular contributor to rissla.com. For more information on furniture and home decorating, visit rissla.com.
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