TV Dinner's Genesis: Industrial-Sized Leftovers

TV dinners were invented during Thanksgiving in 1953 when the Swanson Company overstocked and was left with over a half-million pounds of turkey they handn’t sold. So a salesman tweaked an airline serving tray, put turkey dinner inside, and told Swanson to tie the marketing to the latest fad of television. [US Census Bureau] (Thanks to Michael!)

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