Robert C. Baker
{{Short description|American food scientist (1921–2006)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| birth_name = Robert Carl Baker
| birth_date = {{birth date|1921|12|29}}
| birth_place = Newark, New York, U.S.{{cite news |title=Robert C. Baker, Who Reshaped Chicken Dinner, Dies at 84 |author=Douglas Martin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/nyregion/robert-c-baker-who-reshaped-chicken-dinner-dies-at-84.html |access-date=December 12, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=March 16, 2006}}
| alma_mater = Cornell University
Penn State University
Purdue University
| nationality = American
| occupation = {{hlist|Inventor|university professor}}
| known = Inventor of the chicken nugget
| death_date = {{death date and age|2006|3|13|1921|12|29}}
| death_place = Lansing, New York, U.S.
| spouse = {{marriage|Jacoba Munson|1944}}
| children = 7
}}
Robert Carl Baker (December 29, 1921 – March 13, 2006) was an American inventor and Cornell University professor. He invented the chicken nugget as well as many other poultry-related inventions. Due to his contributions to the poultry sciences, he is a member of the American Poultry Hall of Fame.
Education
A Lansing, New York, native, Baker earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1943 studying pomology at the university's College of Agriculture. For his graduate work, Baker took his master's degree in marketing at Penn State University and his doctorate at Purdue University. Baker was a member of the Alpha Zeta fraternity.{{Cite news|author=Mason, Zachary|author-link=Zachary Mason|url=http://cornellsun.com/node/44152|title=Robert Baker Invented Chicken Nuggets, Turkey Burgers, and Cornell BBQ|work=The Cornell Daily Sun|date=October 20, 2010|accessdate=March 14, 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123235953/http://cornellsun.com/node/44152|archivedate=November 23, 2010}}
Career and innovations
Baker travelled 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 and cold cut innovations, making him the "George Washington Carver of poultry". In addition to creating the chicken nugget, he 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 turkey hot 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 Cornell publication Agricultural Economics Research in April 1963,{{Cite web |last=McKenna |first=Maryn |date=2012-12-28 |title=The Man Who Invented Chicken Nuggets—18 Years Before McDonald’s Did |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2012/12/robert-c-baker-the-man-who-invented-chicken-nuggets.html |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=Slate Magazine |language=en}} while McDonald's patented its recipe for Chicken McNuggets in 1979 and started selling the product in 1980.
In addition to his innovations in industrial chicken products, Baker is notable in the cuisine of Upstate New York for developing "Cornell chicken", a regionally popular recipe for grilled chicken, particularly small whole birds, with a cider vinegar-based marinade. Baker had in fact developed this recipe while working at Penn State, but it never gained appreciation until he joined the faculty at Cornell.{{cite web |last1=Mitzewich |first1=John |author1-link=John Mitzewich |title=Cornell Chicken Recipe |url=https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/221091/cornell-chicken/ |website=Allrecipes |access-date=3 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241225202718/https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/221091/cornell-chicken/ |archive-date=25 December 2024}}
Personal life
Baker was born on December 29, 1921, in Newark, New York. He married his wife, Jacoba Munson, in 1944, and together they raised three sons, Myron, Dale, and Kermit, and four daughters, Regina, Reenie, Johanna, and Karen. Baker was a dedicated family man and cherished the time spent with his loved ones.{{Cite web |date=2006-03-06 |title=Robert C. Baker, creator of chicken nuggets and Cornell chicken barbecue sauce, dies at 84 | url=https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2006/03/food-and-poultry-scientist-robert-c-baker-dies-age-84 | access-date=2023-06-07 | website=Cornell Chronicle |language=en}} He died in 2006.
In popular culture
Comedic singers Paul and Storm have a song titled "Nugget Man" on their album Gumbo Pants, which pays tribute to the late inventor and his most popular invention, the chicken nugget. The song humorously explores the career of Baker, lists a few of his other inventions, details the formula for chicken nuggets, and the impact of this invention.
In the TV series The Wire, three of the street drug dealer characters discuss who may have invented the chicken nugget and what fortune it may have brought him, with D'Angelo Barksdale, the Crew Chief, pointing out that any such person would have been unlikely to have received any great reward but rather the heads of McDonald's were more likely to have been the main beneficiaries.
In the Netflix series Bill Nye Saves the World, Baker is portrayed by actor Michael Ian Black in the angry scientist section of season 3 episode 4.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{portal|Food}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060711092410/http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/March06/Baker_obit.html Cornell University obituary]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110708193322/http://cornellsun.com/node/17073 Cornell Sun obituary]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311082753/http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060326/news_lz1j26martin.html The San Diego Union Tribute obituary]
- [http://yates.cce.cornell.edu/resources/cornell-chicken-barbecue-sauce-and-safe-chicken-barbecues Recipe] for Baker's famous Cornell Chicken
- [http://www.paulandstorm.com/lyrics/nugget-man/ "Nugget man"] Tribute song by Paul and Storm
- [http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cornell-chicken-barbecue-sauce-upstate Baker's invention of the chicken barbecue]
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Category:American food scientists
Category:Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni
Category:Smeal College of Business alumni
Category:Purdue University College of Agriculture alumni
Category:Cornell University faculty
Category:Fellows of the Institute of Food Technologists
Category:People from Lansing, New York
Category:20th-century American inventors