Food Related Passings

[Toliver]

Two food-related passings of note...

Before Sam's Club and Super Walmarts, Costco's and Price Clubs and Gemco's there was the FedMart chain founded by Sol Price:

"Sol Price, Who Founded Price Club, Is Dead at 93"

Membership in FedMart, which eventually sold liquor, pharmacy items, household goods and premium gasoline, cost $2 and was limited to government employees and their families...

...The FedMart chain grew to include more than 40 stores throughout the Southwest.

...Mr. Price started the first Price Club in 1976 in a cavernous former airplane parts factory in an unfashionable part of San Diego. The business, which offered consumer goods as varied as tires, books and household appliances at extremely low prices, proved to be the leading edge in the multibillion-dollar influx of discount big-box stores, among them Costco, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Sam’s Club.

I recall as a child going on shopping trips to FedMart stores in San Diego. It was a great concept: Groceries and household goods sold under one roof. Super Walmarts are nothing new to me. Been there, done that, thanks to FedMarts.

The other food-related passing of note is:

"Curtis Allina Dies at 87; He Put the Heads on Pez"

Introduced into the United States in the early 1950s, Pez sold fitfully. Then someone thought of remarketing it as a children’s candy, in fruit flavors, packed in whimsical dispensers. It fell to Mr. Allina to persuade the home office in Vienna, by all accounts a conservative outfit that took sober pride in its grown-up mint.

Mr. Allina prevailed, and the first two character dispensers, Santa Claus and a robot known as the Space Trooper, were introduced in 1955...

I was never a fan of Pez. That being said, I do have a couple of Pez dispensers sitting on my desk at work. Culturally pervasive little suckers, aren't they?

[Kouign Aman]

Horrible candies with delightful dispensers!

Fedmart was good, and the original Price Club was better.

Its still going strong in its Costco-life.

Saul definitely made my life a bit easier.

[Holly Moore]

There was a time when every kid I knew had at least on Pez machine. It was an era of sharing - offering to flip a Pez to anyone within arm's reach.

[emilyr]

Also Al Bernardin, the inventor of the McDonald's Qarter Pounder. Story.

[HungryC]

Also, Eula Mae Savoie, co-founder of a Cajun food business built on sausages. The Savoies couldn't afford to feed their hogs one year, and thus entered the sausage-making business, which later grew to include all sorts of packaged Cajun foods. I had jambalaya for lunch today, made with Savoie's hot sausage.

[Fantastic Mr Fox]

Just passed yesterday...

Donald Goerke, creator of Spaghetti-Os

Donald Goerke, a Campbell Soup Company executive whose nonlinear approach to pasta resulted in SpaghettiOs, died Sunday at his home in Delran, N.J. He was 83.

Story

Edited January 14, 2010 by Fantastic Mr Fox (log)

[Toliver]

"Taco Bell founder Glen Bell Jr. dies"

Mr. Bell launched his first restaurant, called Bell's Drive-In, in 1948 in San Bernardino after seeing the success of McDonald's Bar-B-Que, the predecessor of McDonald's, which was founded in the same city in 1940. Like McDonald's, Mr. Bell's restaurant sought to take advantage of Southern California's car culture by serving hamburgers and hot dogs through drive-up windows.

The World War II veteran next helped establish Taco Tias in Los Angeles, El Tacos in the Long Beach area and Der Wienerschnitzel, a national hot dog chain.

I think it's interesting that Taco Bell and Der Wienerschnitzel came from the same man.

[Toliver]

"Inventor of Boxed Wine Dies "

Australian winemaker Thomas Angove, inventor of boxed wine, passed away yesterday at the age of 92.

Nearly 45 years after his first prototype, boxed wine has become a popular drinking for those looking for decent wine at a reasonable price.

[Kouign Aman]

"Inventor of Boxed Wine Dies "

Australian winemaker Thomas Angove, inventor of boxed wine, passed away yesterday at the age of 92.

Nearly 45 years after his first prototype, boxed wine has become a popular drinking for those looking for decent wine at a reasonable price.

Now sold in single serving sizes at Target, which is incredibly useful for beach picnics and entertaining the parents at children's birthday parties.

[haresfur]

"Inventor of Boxed Wine Dies "

Australian winemaker Thomas Angove, inventor of boxed wine, passed away yesterday at the age of 92.

Nearly 45 years after his first prototype, boxed wine has become a popular drinking for those looking for decent wine at a reasonable price.

Now sold in single serving sizes at Target, which is incredibly useful for beach picnics and entertaining the parents at children's birthday parties.

Great concept... but I gotta know: Do the individual boxes come with sippy-straws that you poke into them?

[emilyr]

"Inventor of Boxed Wine Dies "

Australian winemaker Thomas Angove, inventor of boxed wine, passed away yesterday at the age of 92.

Nearly 45 years after his first prototype, boxed wine has become a popular drinking for those looking for decent wine at a reasonable price.

Now sold in single serving sizes at Target, which is incredibly useful for beach picnics and entertaining the parents at children's birthday parties.

Great concept... but I gotta know: Do the individual boxes come with sippy-straws that you poke into them?

I don't know if the ones Kougin Amin is talking about at Target do, but there's a bar in my town that only does canned beer. To serve wine, they have juicebox sized boxes (lined with aluminum or some such) that has it's own straw. It makes me feel like a wino when I drink them, but the wine is ok. I can't remember the brand.