For higher and for worse, frozen meals have performed a big position within the American eating regimen for a century. Precisely 100 years in the past, Clarence Birdseye invented a quick-freezing technique that preserved the standard and dietary content material of most meals, and in so doing birthed a revolution. The final century introduced a veritable arms race of frozen meals innovation — the TV dinner was invented in 1953, the trendy marvel that we all know at this time as Totino’s Pizza Rolls arrived within the Nineteen Eighties, and with 1990 got here the appearance of the Toaster Strudel. That parade of innovation continues at this time, due to the diminutive countertop convection ovens which have earned a spot within the majority of American kitchens.
I converse, in fact, of the air fryer. Although it was invented all the way in which again in 2010, it didn’t actually change into standard till 2017. The countertop equipment is actually only a mini convection oven, however one which got here with a uniquely compelling promise: with only a tablespoon or so of oil, dwelling cooks may produce French fries, rooster fingers, and different usually fried meals that tasted like they only got here out of a deep fryer however didn’t come slowed down with all that grease or any well being implications which may come together with consuming it.
In our eternally diet-conscious tradition, that was an particularly engaging proposition, and the ascent of the air fryer has been dizzying: A 2023 evaluation performed by Nestle discovered that round 60 % of American households now personal one. Few have benefited extra from its ascension than the frozen meals trade. Because the air fryer grew to become extra standard, folks discovered that it was notably good at making snacks like frozen taquitos, fries, and Pizza Rolls crispier and extra scrumptious than a daily previous oven. Who amongst us hasn’t pulled a tray of Bagel Bites out of the oven and been disenchanted by their limp, soggy texture?
Beginning in 2020, when of us have been caught indoors through the COVID-19 pandemic, frozen meals gross sales elevated throughout the board. The air fryer’s reputation skilled equally substantial development throughout that point, which in flip created an ideal storm for frozen meals innovation. Persons are at all times searching for simpler — and cheaper — methods to get dinner on the desk, and the frozen meals trade shortly embraced the air fryer as a solution to make its merchandise extra interesting to frozen meals skeptics. By 2024, one evaluation discovered a 90 % enhance in merchandise together with directions for air fryer preparation.
discovered that 90 % of meals within the grocery retailer now embrace directions for air fryer preparation, and plenty of manufacturers like La Choy and Gorton’s have launched strains particularly designed for air fryer cooking. Even non-frozen meals — like Kettle, which now sells a line of air fried potato chips — are getting in on air fryer insanity. “We’ve bought an air fryer,” boasts the chip firm’s slogan, touting 30 % decrease fats than the same old Kettle chips.
The air fryer is, in fact, not the primary equipment to revolutionize the frozen meals trade. Within the Nineteen Sixties, toaster ovens grew to become commonplace in American kitchens. In 1986, the Campbell’s Soup Firm invented a specialised plastic tray that meant, for the primary time, customers may put their TV dinners within the microwave. Like these home equipment, that are nonetheless staples in most American kitchens, the air fryer is poised to discover a comparable place on the counter for the long run, and that’s due largely to the way in which through which it simply makes frozen meals higher.
“The trade has actually responded to of us cooking at dwelling extra and adapting to the air fryer,” says Mary Emma Younger, vice chairman of communications on the American Frozen Meals Institute. “I feel it does assist change the notion that some of us may need about frozen meals. Now you’re seeing all these merchandise that may go within the air fryer, and also you’re getting, in some circumstances, restaurant-quality outcomes.”
And just like the toaster oven and microwave earlier than it, the air fryer is poised to really change into a staple of the American kitchen in the long term. I’ve owned an air fryer for practically a decade, and I exploit it for every little thing from baking completely flaky salmon filets to, sure, heating up frozen rooster nuggets and Pizza Rolls. It has, at the least relating to frozen meals, completely changed my microwave. I’m at all times searching for an excuse to make use of it as a substitute of heating up my horrible condominium oven — particularly when it’s this sizzling outdoors.
Subin Yang is a South Korean illustrator presently based mostly in NYC. She graduated with a BFA in illustration from Pacific Northwest Faculty of Artwork and makes pictures utilizing colourful blocky shapes and free line work impressed by themes of dwelling, tradition, and identification.
