Who Invented the Food Processor?
Food processors are one of those versatile, indispensable small kitchen appliances no kitchen should be without. But just who came up with the idea for this handy chopping machine?
The food processor was the brainchild of Pierre Verdan, a salesman for a French catering company who noticed his clients were spending an inordinate amount of time in the kitchen chopping, mixing, and shredding. His solution? A bowl with a revolving blade protruding from the inside of the base. In 1960, Verdan started Robot Coupe, a company that would make food processors for the catering industry. In the late 1960s, the company developed a food processor powered by a commercial induction motor, but it wasn't until 1972 that the food processor was introduced to the domestic market. Later, in 1974, Robot Coupe's Magimix processor came out in the UK, starting with the R1 1800 model. In America, Carl Sontheimer designed a food processor that was an adaptation of Robot Coupe's industrial blender. Sontheimer, an engineer whose microwave direction finder had been used by NASA in a mission to the moon, had attended a cooking show in France where he had seen a demonstration of the Robot Coupe blender. Upon returning to the States, he began developing his own version, which was introduced in 1973 as the Cuisinart food processor, the first home food processor in North America. It took the public a couple of years to realize the many uses of the new machine, but it soon took off and has been a kitchen staple ever since. |  |