by Jeanni Ritchie
Remember Y2K?
Pantries were lined with cans, some even storing canned goods on the floors of clothes closets. Convinced of a technological apocalypse in the new millennium, Americans stored nonperishables in bulk. By January 2, 2000 food banks reaped the harvest of American fear.
National Canned Food Month in February is a time to celebrate canned foods, something not always readily available.
The invention of canned foods goes back to the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte’s offer of 12,000 francs to anyone who could develop a method of preserving food for his army. Frenchman Nicolas Appert claimed the prize. Appert’s initial canning method in glass led to the current canning method using cans.
But opening tin cans was a difficulty at first. Most people opened them using a chisel and hammer. However, the French army took a different approach: they used bayonets. In 1855, an English surgical instrument maker named Rober Yates invented the first tin-can opener. The first electric can opener was patented in 1931 by Preston C. West. In 1959, Ermal “Ernie” Fraze was on a picnic and realized he didn’t have a can opener; he patented the pull-tab lid design in 1963.
Remember when sodas had that pull tab that came all the way off?! People would open their cokes and drop that aluminum piece in the can, something that horrified me. Certain I’d accidentally swallow that pull-tab and it would slice my stomach open, I only tried it once. Terror mixed with carbonation does not make for an enjoyable drink!
Now, beverages have pull tabs that fold instead of being removed and many vegetable cans have tabs to remove lids without needing a can opener at all. These are preferable when donating to food banks, ensuring the recipient is able to access the food.
Canned goods are an integral part of food pantries. Contribute to a canned drive near you. Church pantries, foster care organizations, senior citizen centers, backpack buddy programs, and others could use your generosity to help feed hungry bellies.
The Food Bank of Central Louisiana assists more than 42,500 families in our community each year. Their mission is to alleviate hunger in Central Louisiana and channel valuable and needed food to our neighbors in need. You can contact them at info@fbcenla.org or (318) 445-2773. They are located at 3223 Baldwin Ave. Alexandria.
Celebrate #NationalCannedFoodMonth by helping others!
Jeanni Ritchie is a contributing journalist from Central Louisiana. She can be reached at jeanniritchie54@gmail.com.