Preparation of Food: From Stone Age to Space Age (1969)

[Music] it was fire that separated man from the animals fire that gave him warmth to overcome The Cold Light to pierce the darkness and in 1969 it was the controlled use of fire that enabled man to make his first landing on the moon and in was fire that civilized man for fire not only made food more tasteful and plant life digestible but far more important smoked and preserved it now man no longer had to Gorge himself as soon as he made a fresh kill now he could sustain himself between kills and he could in time be more than a hunter he could become a farmer an artist a writer [Music] a member of a cultured Society fire elevated man from the animals and the Art of cooking made him civilized yet for the past 40,000 years of human history methods of cooking have remained the same but now at last in the age of space and in fact as part of the Fallout from our great technological effort there are new ways of preparing Foods freezing to preserve them and cooking without the application of heat to see how primitive man prepared his food we need only travel to the jungles of New Guinea where the Stone Age still survives here the simplest way of preparing food is to take a fresh kill and dump it in the fire but by far the best method of primitive cooking is to dig a pit line it with Greenery and fill it with raw meat and plenty of hot Stones this is the same method as in the New England clam bake the Western barbecue and the Hawaiian Lua finally the raw meat and hot rocks are sealed with PM prons and patience for it will be hours before this banquet will be ready it also took a long time about 4,000 years from the end of the Stone Age to the rise of ancient Rome yet this Roman Baker whose portrait and that of his wife is preserved on the walls of his pompeian Bakery though he had learned to raise his oven above the ground and build it of bricks still baked very much like Stone AG man applying a great deal of heat and time to achieve this loaf of bread which is now 2,000 years old 17 centuries after the death of the Roman Baker Thomas Jefferson in writing the Declaration of Independence articulated one of man's great political ideas Freedom Jefferson was a universal genius whose design of the University of Virginia and his own house monello reflected his love of classical design and gracious living Jefferson was the first American Gourmet it was Jefferson who introduced spaghetti into the American diet as well as such Foods as french fries asparagus ice cream and vanilla flavoring some of the finest meals ever served in America were prepared in Jefferson kitchen yet though Jefferson's political ideas were a tremendous Advance over the ancient Romans his food preparation methods were virtually the same involving the same huge applications of Labor heat and time with the same inevitable shrinkage and drying out of [Music] food even the arrival of the Iron Horse and the Industrial Revolution did not substantially change methods of food preparation as can be seen in this Virginia City Nevada home built a century ago and still preserved in its original functional State including its kitchen the 19th Century's age of Iron and steel made cooking by Brick Hearth obsolete relatively cheap and efficient iron ranges could be readily installed in the most modest Pioneer cabin or city dwellers apartment yet without convenience Foods cooking still involved as much time and heat and almost as much effort as in the Stone Age and even the modern oven using either G gas or electricity for its heat Source despite all its conveniences such as electric timer and automatic pilot as in this 20th century demonstration kitchen still requires as much heat and time for proper cooking as the brick hearths of ancient [Music] Rome now at this history making moment in which man has first landed on the moon we are entering a new era in space and here at the NASA man spacecraft Center where the lunar explorers will spend their 21-day isolation period the NASA lunar receiving laboratory contains not only the most advanced scientific facilities and comfortable living accommodations but its kitchen with its Reliance on Modern frozen foods and microwave and quartz cooking units is in the Forefront of a new era in food preparation microwave cooking units like those in the NASA lunar receiving laboratory and This Test Kitchen are indeed revolutionary keep your eye on the chocolate cupcake it rises faster than you can eat it for a main course how about a delicacy like lobster taals ready in less than a minute with no shrinkage or shriveling since there is no furnace likee blast of heat this is cooking by microwave cooking without heat yet the kitchen of the NASA man spacecraft Center's lunar receiving laboratory Limited in its space and in the time its Personnel can devote to preparing meals is designed primarily for the rapid heating of previously prepared Cuisines particularly Frozen Foods the modern Miracle of quartz and microwave ovens are here coupled with the advances made in modern frozen food technology the foods consumed in the NASA lunar receiving laboratory are the results of extensive recipe development and research during the past 2 years in ultramodern test kitchens these Foods meet or exce ceed the high standards of quality and Purity set by the NASA man spacecraft Center and have been selected for Taste appeal by both astronauts and panels of food experts in short for those like the astronauts in the lunar receiving laboratory who must have quality food prepared at maximum speed there is now the perfect marriage as in this demonstration kitchen between the freezer and the microwave and quartz ovens so Frozen Foods as soups vegetables and these escalloped apples piping hot and ready to serve in a few seconds delicious Entre like lobster Newberg quickly heated to Perfection and desserts Frozen solad like Swiss chocolate cake thawed and ready to eat in 5 seconds it is indeed appropriate that the NASA lunar receiving laboratory is equipped with frozen food facilities and quartz and microwave cooking units microwave cooking especially is part of the technological Fallout particularly in the field of radar from the past two decades of research and development which has culminated in 1969's landing on the moon developed as the basic power unit for all these radar tracking stations is an electron 2 the magnetron and it was discovered that this same magnetron could be used as the primary power unit in microwave ovens the magnetron in short is an electron tube which transmits microwaves which are much like radio and television waves but a TV station transmits microwaves of a selected frequency in all directions and any TV set tuned to that station's frequency picks up part of the transmitted energy and processes it into sound and pictures inside a microwave oven the magnetron similarly transmits waves of energy but since microwaves cannot penetrate metal they are channeled inside a metal pipe down into the oven cavity since the cavity is also walled by metal there's no place for the microwaves to go but into the food whose molecular structure absorbs and converts the energy in the form of heat yet the nature of food is such that only the food like this macaroni and cheese becomes hot the metal oven as well as the glass or paper containers which are all non conductors of microwaves remain cool the new era in food preparation features quality frozen foods served with unprecedented speed and efficiency some of the astronauts favorite dishes include breast of [Music] chicken beef pie short ribs and love Newberg not surprisingly many of them are the same as those available at the local supermarket for cooking in conventional kitchens we live in an age of unprecedented technological achievements scientific Adventures whose full benefits to mankind cannot as yet be fully foreseen yet man's Greatest Adventure may be more than the Monumental landing on the moon it may well be the ever increasing acquisition of techniques and knowledge technology that can make the quality of life For All Mankind richer and more Bountiful