Food Processors

When America’s first food processor was unveiled at the national housewares exposition in Chicago in January 1973, it barely caused a ripple. With a blocky base about half the size of a shoe box, a broad clear plastic work bowl, and a fierce S-shaped blade some six inches across, the appliance was dismissed as an oversized, overpriced electric blender, even though it came with slicing and shredding disks. But Carl G. Sontheimer, the man behind the machine, was undaunted. A retired electronics engineer from Greenwich, Connecticut, and an accomplished hobby cook, Sontheimer knew that his food processor could revolutionize the way America cooked.