Robert C. Baker

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Robert C. Baker (December 29, 1921 - March 13, 2006), was the inventor of the chicken nugget, and a member of the American Poultry Hall of Fame.

Contents 1 Education 2 Career and Innovations 3 Pop culture 4 References

[edit] Education

A Lansing, New York native, Baker earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1943 and then went on to major in Pomology at the university's College of Agriculture.

[edit] Career and Innovations

Robert Baker traveled 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 "Thomas Edison of poultry". In addition to creating the chicken nugget, his 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 1950s as unpatented academic work, while McDonald's patented its recipe for Chicken McNuggets in 1979 and started selling the product in 1983.

[edit] Pop culture

The band Paul and Storm have a song titled "Nugget Man" about Robert C. Baker and the chicken nugget. In the song, they point out that everyone "knew his work, but few knew his name."

[edit] References

• Cornell University Obituary
• Cornell Sun Obituary
• "In Memoriam: Robert C. Baker." Food Technology. December 2006. p. 97.
• The San Diego Union Tribute Obituary
• Recipe for Baker's famous Cornell Chicken