TV Dinners

Episode notes

Alex Schmidt is joined by bestselling author Jason Pargin (‘John Dies At The End’ series, ‘Zoey Ashe’ series) for a look at why TV dinners are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode.

LINKS FOR THE GUESTS:

• Zoey Punches The Future In The Dick by Jason Pargin
• Jason’s website
• Jason’s Substack
• Jason Pargin on Twitter

RESOURCES USED TO INFORM THE EPISODE’S LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

• native-land.ca
• U.S. Department Of Arts And Culture
• The True Native New Yorkers Can Never Truly Reclaim Their Homeland (Smithsonian)
• Mapping Manahatta: 10 Lenape sites in New York City (6sqft)

RESEARCH SOURCES:

• A Brief History of the TV Dinner (Smithsonian Magazine)
• Who “invented” the TV dinner? (The Library Of Congress “Everyday Mysteries”)
• Exhibit: “Design: 1880 to Now” (The Brooklyn Museum)
• World’s most expensive TV dinner comes with champagne-soaked fish, edible gold (Thrillist)
• Airplane seats that face each other? The Internet responds… (USA Today)
• Frozen food sales soar with homebound consumers during pandemic (FoodDive.com)
• America Is Falling Out of Love With TV Dinners (The Atlantic)
• Meet the minds behind the bizarre, truth-bombing Steak-umm Twitter account (The Washington Post)
• 28 Weirdly Wonderful Posts From the Denny’s Tumblr Page (Pleated-Jeans)
• The Wild Story Behind The Burger King Mascot (Mashed)
• Nerding Day: “Sneak King” (1900HOTDOG) — an amazing rundown of a creepy video game from Burger King, where the mascot is the main character.
• Is Velveeta Actually Real Cheese? (Mashed)
• Clarence Birdseye And His Fantastic Frozen Food Machine (NPR’s “The Salt” blog)
• 10 Breakthroughs in TV Dinners (HowStuffWorks)
• A Brief History of the TV Tray (Apartment Therapy)
• Pinterest upload of a 1952 TV Tray ad
• Where did the chimichanga, the glorious deep-fried burrito, come from anyway? (The Los Angeles Times) — one origin story: “Woody Johnson, owner of Macayo’s in Phoenix, always maintained that his culinary light bulb went off when he wanted to repurpose a batch of day-old burritos and decided that frying them was a great way to go.”
• No Work, No Dishes (Smithsonian National Museum of American History)
• YouTube upload of Mad Men characters littering their picnic into a field
• Pinterest upload of a Swanson’s TV dinner ad: “I’m late — but dinner won’t be!”
• image upload of a Swanson’s TV dinner ad: “Trust Swanson: Who else gives you only choice slices of tender turkey?”
• The Healthiest and Unhealthiest Frozen Dinners (TheDailyMeal.com)
• Family Dinner: Treasured Tradition Or Bygone Ideal? (NPR’s “The Salt” blog)
• Something Is Changing in the Way People Eat at Home (The Atlantic)
• Here’s Why We Overeat in Front of the TV — and How to Stop (The Cleveland Clinic)
• Distracted eating may add to weight gain (Harvard Health)
• The Family Meal Is What Counts, TV On or Off (The New York Times)
• No tuna DNA in Subway’s tuna, lawsuit alleges (CBS News)