History Book: The father of frozen food

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, October 31st. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming up next, the WORLD History Book. Today, the 20th anniversary of a financial scandal, plus we’ll meet the father of the frozen food industry. But first, more than 500 years ago, the first public viewing of a painted masterpiece. Here’s Paul Butler.

PAUL BUTLER, REPORTER: We begin with All Saints Day, November 1st, 1512. The Vatican unveils Michelangelo’s painted masterpiece—the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Nine scenes from the book of Genesis sprawl across the 58-hundred square foot ceiling…more than 60 feet above the chapel floor. On one end: God’s outstretched arms seem to almost strain as He separates light from darkness. On the other end—an intoxicated Noah gives in to sleep as his sons look on.

Surrounding these scenes—24 additional panels with Biblical prophets, and ancestors from the genealogy of Jesus.

Beginning in 1508, Michelangelo single-handedly painted the entire ceiling—though over the four year project he had more than a dozen assistants mixing paints, plaster, and delivering supplies up and down the tall scaffolding. For hours on end the great artist stood with his arms above his head working the pigment into wet plaster.

Michelangelo was first and foremost a sculptor—a great expert of the human form. He brought that sensibility to his painted art. Michelangelo’s masterpiece features very little supporting backgrounds or nature scenes—he relies instead on striking human forms in dynamic poses. More than 300 figures grace the ceiling.

Michelangelo returned to the Sistine chapel 25 years later to begin painting the scene of the Last Judgment on the chapel’s west wall. Both works had their critics from the very start due to Michelangelo’s use of nudes. Over the years many were covered up or adapted—though more restoration projects over the years have returned many to how Michelangelo originally painted them.

Millions of people visit the chapel each year. American art historian and tour guide Elizabeth Lev from a 2016 TED Talk:

LEVY: Think how amazing it is, that some painted plaster from 500 years ago can still draw all those people standing side by side, gazing upwards with their jaws dropped. It’s a great statement of how beauty, can truly speak to us all through time, and through geographic space.

Next, a food preservation innovation becomes a household product.

COMMERCIAL: Birdeye Peas, sweet as the moment when the pod went pop…

On November 3rd, 1952, Clarence Birdseye begins marketing frozen peas to the general public.

40 years earlier Birdseye had been on an fur-trapping expedition in Labrador, Canada. While there he noticed how Inuits quickly froze food to preserve it. He returned home and began tinkering in his workshop—figuring out how to flash freeze food for himself.

In 1929 Birdseye Foods began selling frozen fish and a few other items. The problem was most people didn’t own freezers at the time, but all that changed after World War II. As ice boxes gave way to refrigerators with personal freezers, frozen food took off in popularity.

COMMERCIAL: In your FrigidAir cold air pantry, there’s room for all your food, fresh or frozen…

Clarence Birdseye was not the first to freeze food, but his inventions made the mass process and distribution possible. He is considered the father of the frozen food industry. The National Inventors Hall of Fame inducted Birdseye into the pantheon of great inventors in 2005.

COMMERCIAL: Pop, pop, pop to your Birdseye shop, for Birdseye fresh green peas, fresh as the moment when the pod went pop. Birdseye fresh green peas. [POP!]

And finally, Oct 31st, 20 years ago today. A federal grand jury indicts former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow.

NEWSCAST: Andrew Fastow faces 78 counts of fraud, money laundering, and other felonies, for his involvement in the Enron scandal…

A humiliating end for a Fortune Top 10 company executive.

ENRON COMMERCIAL: You can choose your neighbors and soon, you can choose your energy provider…

Enron began as a Houston based gas-pipeline company in the 1990s but rapidly became one the nation's biggest energy traders. In 2000, shares of Enron topped out north of $90, but by the end of 2001, they fell to less than 50 cents a share after the company filed for bankruptcy. Thousands lost their jobs. And many lost their company retirement savings in the process.

Andrew Fastow was at the center of the scandal. He had been using legal loopholes and off-balance-sheet special purpose entities to hide the company’s true debt from shareholders and regulators.

A few months after Enron’s filing for bankruptcy, the US House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee subpoenaed Fastow. He appeared before the committee on February 7th, 2002.

HEARING: How do you answer sir? FASTOW: Mr. Chairman. I would like to answer the committee’s questions but on the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer the question…

Fastow not only hid the truth from shareholders, he personally benefited from the practice. He entered into a plea bargain and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He also had to forfeit nearly $24 million in assets. But due to his cooperation in cases against other executives and auditors, a US District Judge eventually reduced Fastow’s sentence and he ended up serving five years.

Since then, Fastow has become a sought after speaker on business ethics and the problem of “legal fraud.”

FASTOW: When I was CFO of Enron…I was never invited to speak anywhere—not one time. Now I’m invited to speak somewhere around the world every week if I wanted to do it. But only because I went to prison…

Enron’s dramatic fall led to a few accounting reforms, but there’s much more to be done. 20 years on, Fastow is quick to admit the pain he caused Enron employees, investors, and his role in the larger society's distrust of financial markets and institutions. In a 2021 interview, he spoke with Quinton Mathews for Real Vision…

FASTOW: I believe that what I did was wrong. I believe that what I did was unethical. I believe what I did was illegal. I take full responsibility for my actions. And probably, if there’s one person who is most responsible for Enron’s failure, it’s me…

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book, I’m Paul Butler.

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