Chicken nuggets are a quintessential American food: easily mass produced and a quick, convenient source of protein that can be eaten on the go. A staple of fast food restaurants and grocery store freezer aisles for decades, they weren’t always on America’s children’s plates and menus. It would take war, lab experiments, and changing U.S. dietary guidelines before chains like McDonald’s catapult chicken nuggets to a household name.
The chicken problem of WWII
Mori Nakashiman pictured scattering chicken feed in a bucket in front of a chicken coop, c. 1943. Photographed by Ansel Adams who, for part of his career as a photographer, was hired by the US government to record life in the West.
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During World War II, chicken became the primary source of protein for many Americans after the U.S. military requisitioned red meat for soldiers, creating a shortage of home beef. Massive demand for chicken has prompted companies to produce the birds more cheaply, says anthropologist Steve Striffler, author of Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America’s Favorite Food: “World War II encouraged the spread, modernization and industrialization of chicken on a much larger scale.”
At the end of the war, the military also came for chicken: “In the spring of 1945, the War Food Administration requisitioned almost 100% of the production in the Delmarva Peninsula (covering Delaware, Maryland and Virginia) , an important poultry production region. Says Dr. Ashton Merck, professor of history at Duke University. “Army requisitions have allowed producers in the South and Midwest to establish themselves in the lucrative eastern markets.”
When the war ended, demand for poultry plummeted. Red meat was no longer scarce and chicken had a portion problem: at the time, most were sold whole. The birds were too small to feed all of these growing post-war families, but too large for one person. Preparing whole roasts was a tedious task for women who were increasingly entering the workforce. It would take a new invention to re-energize the American appetite for chicken.
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Robert C. Baker invents chicken nuggets
Manufacture of nuggets
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Although the origin of chicken nuggets, like many food products, remains disputed, it is commonly believed that agricultural scientist Robert C. Baker invented chicken nuggets in a Cornell University lab in 1963. They did part of the dozens of poultry products he has developed during his career. , including turkey ham and chicken hot dogs, helping to significantly develop the American poultry industry.
“Robert C. Baker was both a product of the changes taking place in the poultry world and a driver of those changes,” Striffler says. “Industry leaders quickly realized that the real profit wouldn’t come so much from producing more chicken, but from producing more chicken. Therefore, further processing. ”
Baker’s innovation was to mold boneless, bite-sized chunks from ground, skinless chicken (often from the little-used parts of the bird), and enclose them in a breading perfectly designed for solve two key problems: it remained both frying and freezing. , critical for mass production and transportation. His “Chicken Sticks” have earned him the nickname “George Washington Carver of Chicken”.
Baker did not patent the chicken nuggets. Instead, he sent the recipe to hundreds of American companies who would later profit from his invention. But it would take a new health trend for Americans to truly embrace the chicken nugget.
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The Red [Meat] Scare
In 1977, Congress released “Dietary Goals for the United States,” urging Americans to eat less red meat in favor of lean protein like poultry. “Americans began to fear fats and fatty products like beef, milk and butter,” says Smithsonian food historian Dr. Ashley Rose Young, citing a drop in consumption of beef due to concerns about higher cholesterol, heart disease and a shorter lifespan. Chicken, she says, was marketed as a healthier alternative to beef.
Ironically, the government’s dietary guidelines came just as poultry was becoming increasingly mass produced and processed. “If Americans had just eaten chicken in its unprocessed form, they undoubtedly would have experienced some health benefits from giving up red meat,” Striffler says. “Instead, they started eating more and more processed chicken, which is often less healthy.”
American fast food chains have seen sales of their flagship product, burgers, plummet. The time had come for a new star to be born.
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When were Chicken McNuggets invented?
Launch of McDonalds Fried Chicken Nuggets, mid-1980s. Pictured (left): Nick Rodd, Souathan Finshaw, Garry Grace.
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McDonald’s launched Chicken McNuggets in select markets in 1981. They were inspired by owner Ray Kroc’s determination to develop a new menu item that appealed to the American desire for a convenient alternative to red meat. McDonald’s President Fred Turner focused on what this product should be: “a piece of boneless chicken,” sold “almost like fries”.
McDonald’s hired chef René Arend, who had cooked for Queen Elizabeth II of England, to create it. Arend produced a gravy fried chicken breast that was well received in the main office, but could not be replicated on the massive scale required by McDonald’s franchises. A concept of chicken pie was developed – and rejected.
McDonald’s then hired Keystone Foods, a maker of frozen burgers, to automate the chicken mincing process. They also brought in Gorton’s, best known for their frozen fish fingers, to create a batter for fried chicken that could be mass-reproduced.
The chicken nugget craze reached its peak in 1983, when McDonald’s launched its now iconic Chicken McNuggets across the country. “McNugget’s story of chaos in the early 1980s is a legendary story,” says Adam Chandler, author of Dreams at the wheel. “Local news shows showed long lines and shops running out of chicken.”
In 2018, McDonald’s reintroduced its limited edition Szechuan sauce. When the sauce ran out, customers began to riot. “This request is a testament to the sustainability of the nuggets as a force in pop culture,” says Chandler.
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Chicken nuggets are forever changing agriculture
In 1965, the average American ate 36.6 pounds of chicken per year. By 2020, consumption had nearly tripled to 97.5 pounds per year. “The increased demand for chicken in fast food restaurants has not only led to the increase in chicken consumption, but has led to the endless effort to further industrialize poultry production,” says Striffler. “The poultry farmers who turned the chicks into adult chickens in about six weeks were dominated by the big food companies.”
Slim profit margins have led to questionable labor practices and animal welfare issues, Striffler says. But the growing popularity of sustainable food and farming practices like hormone-free chickens, free-range chickens, and pasture-raised chickens tell an evolving story of the American chicken nugget.
