2022.05.11

The microwave – from your own cookbook to the hero of leftovers?

The microwave is now a given in many people's everyday lives, and during the eighties the technology was the subject of countless cookbooks. But what is less known about this beloved appliance is that it was actually invented by pure chance. 

 

In 1945, American Percy Spencer, a self-taught engineer, was working on radar research arising from World War II. However, he discovered that a piece of chocolate in his pocket had melted due to the radar transmitter's waves. Spencer then experimented with other foods, such as eggs and popping popcorn, and soon after, the microwave oven was invented.

The first edition, which came out in 1946, called the Radarange, cost as much as a new car and measured a colossal 1.7 meters with a modest weight of 350 kg. You can't exactly call the premiere a sales success, but towards the end of the 1970s the price had dropped significantly and soon the invention was in households around the world.

In the 1980s, the microwave reached its peak and was dedicated to a plethora of cookbooks with recipes for preparing entire feasts, what about the creative title ”Cook in Clay the Microwave Way” for example?

Today, microwave ovens are sold with everything from advanced convection and grill functions to the simplest variants that heat and defrost. However, it is undoubtedly a faithful everyday hero, a perfect go-to for heating leftovers, popping popcorn or cooking food when time and energy are running out.