Air-Tight

Well, Tupperware has declared bankruptcy. The company that made a lifestyle out of keeping air away from food has folded.

Before there was Tupperware, there was waxed paper. People would store their leftover green beans in a waxed paper-covered bowl, and there they would remain, waiting for someone to invent plastic wrap.

Along came Tupperware, little hotels for food. These snap-top plastic boxes came in many shapes and sizes, which we now know is a great idea, there being so many knock-offs, but back in the forties and fifties, Tupperware wasn't selling well.

And then the company teamed up with a powerhouse of a woman named Brownie Wise, her real (married) name. It could have been applied to the product itself, which kept — and keeps — brownies and a gazillion other things fresh. She introduced the "party plan,” where women (of course) gathered in someone's house for fun-plus-direct-sales. This became the distribution method, and Tupperware was no longer sold in stores.

If you were a very neat person whose neatness extended to the refrigerator, Tupperware was for you. You could store and stack to your heart’s content, and still be able to see what was inside each container without opening it.

Tupperware in bankruptcy. What will they think of next?

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