Overview

Break out the TV dinners! From the author who gave us Cod, Salt, and other informative bestsellers, the first biography of Clarence Birdseye, the eccentric genius inventor whose fast-freezing process revolutionized the food industry and American agriculture. While working as a fur trapper in Labrador, Canada, Clarence Birdseye encountered an age-old problem- bad food and an unappealing, unhealthy diet. However, he observed that fresh vegetables wetted and left outside in the Arctic winds froze in a way that maintained their integrity after thawing. As a result, he developed his patented Birdseye freezing process and started the company that still bears his name. Birdseye forever changed the way we preserve, store, and distribute food, and the way we eat. Mark Kurlansky's vibrant and affectionate narrative reveals Clarence Birdseye as a quintessential ""can-do"" American inventor-his other patents include an electric sunlamp, a harpoon gun to tag finback whales, and an improved incandescent lightbulb-and shows how the greatest of changes can come from the simplest of ideas and the unlikeliest of places.

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9780767930307

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Praise for Birdseye <p> The first book-length biography of Clarence Birdseye.... [An] intriguing book that...coaxes readers to re-examine everyday miracles like frozen food, and to imagine where places with no indigenous produce would be without them. --Janet Maslin, New York Times <p> There's a particular pleasure in being reminded that the most ordinary things can still be full of magic. Frogs may turn into princes. Lumps of dirt can hide sparkling gems. And having just read Mark Kurlansky's new biography of Clarence Birdseye, I now see the humble fish fillet in a whole new light. For as Kurlansky tells it, when Clarence Birdseye figured out how to pack and freeze haddock...he essentially changed the way we produce, preserve and distribute food forever. --NPR's The Salt <p> Piecing together the first book-length biography of Birdseye was not easy. It's not just the episodic quality of Birdseye's life but the sparse and spotty nature of the surviving information about him. And there are many myths that surround his life, some perpetuated by the man himself.... [Yet] Kurlansky has pieced together a lively and readable biography about one of America's most unusual innovators. --Andrew F. Smith, Newsday<br> <br> Best known for his deliciously knowledgeable food histories ( Cod, Salt, The Big Oyster ), Kurlansky['s]...wide-ranging curiosity matches his subject's, and his narrative of Birdseye's life displays great feeling for a fellow adventurer.... [R]eaders will emerge from this breezy book with a fondness for its engagingly eccentric protagonist--and a much better understanding of the intricate interconnection of traditional practices, technical breakthroughs, business deals, and social change that put those frozen peas in our refrigerators. --Wendy Smith, Daily Beast<br> <br> Kurlansky brings Birdseye to life.... Covering the science behind Birdseye's... inventions along with intimate details of his family life, [he] sk

<p> Less a biography than a glimpse into an exuberantly inventive time in America. . . . In Kurlansky's hands, the arc of Birdseye's life . . . is a history of the American imagination. -- The Washington Post <br> [An] intriguing book that . . . coaxes readers to re-examine everyday miracles like frozen food, and to imagine where places with no indigenous produce would be without them. -- The New York Times <br> Kurlansky's skilled narration ensures that each detail is salient to the central story of Birdseye and his inventions. . . . [and] reinvigorates the spirit of this most American of entrepreneurs. -- The Boston Globe <br> A lively . . . biography about one of America's most unusual innovators. -- Newsday <br> A delight. . . . Fabulous factoids abound. -- The New York Times Book Review<br> <br> The master of the food monograph . . . Kurlansky typically begins with a single natural resource and studies its broad impact on humankind. This book flips that model on its head by studying one extraordinary man and the effect of his innovations on a host of commodities. . . . Birdseye was, in his tastes, surprisingly in sync with today's ethos of locavorism and nose-to-tail eating. -- Businessweek<br> <br> A key ingredient in the success of Kurlansky's biography is the mixture of Birdseye the modern man and Birdseye the throwback, who could not understand so much of contemporary society. -- The Houston Chronicle<br> <br> Having just read Mark Kurlansky's new biography of Clarence Birdseye, I now see the humble fish fillet in a whole new light. For as Kurlansky tells it, when Clarence Birdseye figured out how to pack and freeze haddock . . . he essentially changed the way we produce, preserve and distribute food forever. --Alison Richards, The Salt, NPR <br> Kurlansky brings Birdseye to life. . . . Covering the science behind Birdseye's . . . inventions along with intimate details of his family life, [he] skillfully weaves a fluid narrat

Less a biography than a glimpse into an exuberantly inventive time in America. . . . In Kurlansky's hands, the arc of Birdseye's life . . . is a history of the American imagination. -- The Washington Post [An] intriguing book that . . . coaxes readers to re-examine everyday miracles like frozen food, and to imagine where places with no indigenous produce would be without them. -- The New York Times Kurlansky's skilled narration ensures that each detail is salient to the central story of Birdseye and his inventions. . . . [and] reinvigorates the spirit of this most American of entrepreneurs. -- The Boston Globe A lively . . . biography about one of America's most unusual innovators. -- Newsday A delight. . . . Fabulous factoids abound. -- The New York Times Book Review The master of the food monograph . . . Kurlansky typically begins with a single natural resource and studies its broad impact on humankind. This book flips that model on its head by studying one extraordinary man and the effect of his innovations on a host of commodities. . . . Birdseye was, in his tastes, surprisingly in sync with today's ethos of locavorism and nose-to-tail eating. -- Businessweek A key ingredient in the success of Kurlansky's biography is the mixture of Birdseye the modern man and Birdseye the throwback, who could not understand so much of contemporary society. -- The Houston Chronicle Having just read Mark Kurlansky's new biography of Clarence Birdseye, I now see the humble fish fillet in a whole new light. For as Kurlansky tells it, when Clarence Birdseye figured out how to pack and freeze haddock . . . he essentially changed the way we produce, preserve and distribute food forever. --Alison Richards, The Salt, NPR Kurlansky brings Birdseye to life. . . . Covering the science behind Birdseye's . . . inventions along with intimate details of his family life, [he] skillfully weaves a fluid narrat

Praise for Birdseye <p> In the shadow of America's great inventors--Edison, Ford and Bell, to name a few--stands an unheralded giant: Clarence Birdseye, the father of the modern fresh frozen pea. Wander any supermarket and you'll find Birdseye's legacy.... [Kurlansky's] book is a delight--and a quiz bowl team's treasure-trove. Fabulous factoids abound. --Abigail Meisel, New York Times Book Review<br> <br> The first book-length biography of Clarence Birdseye.... [An] intriguing book that...coaxes readers to re-examine everyday miracles like frozen food, and to imagine where places with no indigenous produce would be without them. --Janet Maslin, New York Times <p> There's a particular pleasure in being reminded that the most ordinary things can still be full of magic. Frogs may turn into princes. Lumps of dirt can hide sparkling gems. And having just read Mark Kurlansky's new biography of Clarence Birdseye, I now see the humble fish fillet in a whole new light. For as Kurlansky tells it, when Clarence Birdseye figured out how to pack and freeze haddock...he essentially changed the way we produce, preserve and distribute food forever. --NPR's The Salt <p> Piecing together the first book-length biography of Birdseye was not easy. It's not just the episodic quality of Birdseye's life but the sparse and spotty nature of the surviving information about him. And there are many myths that surround his life, some perpetuated by the man himself.... [Yet] Kurlansky has pieced together a lively and readable biography about one of America's most unusual innovators. --Andrew F. Smith, Newsday<br> <br> Best known for his deliciously knowledgeable food histories ( Cod, Salt, The Big Oyster ), Kurlansky['s]...wide-ranging curiosity matches his subject's, and his narrative of Birdseye's life displays great feeling for a fellow adventurer.... [R]eaders will emerge from this breezy book with a fondness for its engagingly eccentric protago

Author Information

Mark Kurlansky is the New York Times bestselling author of many books, including The Food of a Younger Land, Cod- A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, Salt- A World History, 1968- The Year That Rocked the World, and The Big Oyster- History on the Half Shell. He lives in New York City.

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