- Robert C. Baker
Robert C. Baker (
December 29 ,1921 -March 13 ,2006 ), was the inventor of thechicken nugget , and a member of the "American Poultry Hall of Fame".Education
A
Lansing, New York native, Baker earned abachelor's degree fromCornell University in 1943 and then went on to major inPomology at the university's "College of Agriculture".Career and Innovations
Robert Baker traveled the world innovating how people eat and view chicken. He spent his entire academic life at Cornell University (1957-1989), and published some 290 research papers. In 1970 he founded the university's "Institute of Food Science and Marketing". Baker was elected a fellow of the
Institute of Food Technologists in 1997.Accredited to him are more than 40
poultry ,turkey andcold cut innovations, making him the "Thomas Edison of poultry". In addition to creating the chicken nugget, his is also responsible for a revolutionary way to bind breading to chicken, co-invented the machine responsible for deboning chicken and created the chicken and turkeyhot dogs and turkey ham.McDonald's is often falsely credited with the invention of the chicken nugget. In fact Baker published his chicken nugget recipe in the 1950s as unpatented academic work, while McDonald's patented its recipe forChicken McNuggets in 1979 and started selling the product in 1983.Pop culture
The band
Paul and Storm have a song titled "Nugget Man" about Robert C. Baker and the chicken nugget. In the song, they point out that everyone "knew his work, but few knew his name."References
* [http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/March06/Baker_obit.html Cornell University Obituary]
* [http://cornellsun.com/node/17073 Cornell Sun Obituary]
*"In Memoriam: Robert C. Baker." "Food Technology." December 2006. p. 97.
* [http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060326/news_lz1j26martin.html The San Diego Union Tribute Obituary]
* [http://cornellsun.com/node/17066 Recipe] for Baker's famous "Cornell Chicken"
* [http://www.paulandstorm.com/lyrics/nugget-man/ "Nugget man"] tribute song by Paul and Storm
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