Changes

In addition to being important for food consumption, evidence exists popcorn was made for ritual reasons. A 1,700-year-old painted funeral urn found in Mexico depicts a corn god shown wearing a headdress made of popcorn. Popcorn was so widely used by native cultures in Mexico and other parts of the New World that Europeans first encountered it in their initial encounters with indigenous peoples in the West Indies and in Mexico. Both Cortes and Columbus encountered popcorn in their early encounters with native populations, where people ate and wore popcorn as part of headdresses, similar to how the corn god and other gods were at times shown (Figure 1). One story exists that popcorn was served in the first Thanksgiving, where early colonists learned about popcorn with the natives they shared a meal with. Popcorn was not only consumed by itself but it was often used in a type of soup and even made into a type of beer.<ref>For more on the variety of uses for popcorn in its early history, see: Podojil, J. (2013). <i>Popcorn favoritesFavorites: everything Everything you want to know about popcorn Popcorn and moreMore.</i> Bloomington, IN: Trafford On Demand Pub., pg. 16.</ref>

Early American settlers utilized popcorn after learning about it from native populations; however, rather than a nighttime snack, it was often consumed as part of breakfast, where it would be added with milk or cream as a cereal. By the 18th and early 19th centuries, English speakers began referring to popcorn as "popped corn," where the term eventually shortened to popcorn.<ref>For more on the early history of popcorn consumption by European settlers and Americans, see: Smith, A. F. (Ed.). (2013). <i>Food and drink Drink in American historyHistory: a A “full course” encyclopedia.</i> Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.</ref> Tlaloc[[File:Tlaloc, Codex Rios, p.20r.jpeg|thumbnail|Figure 1. The god Tlaloc was depicted with a headdress of popcorn.]]

The key innovation that expanded popcorn's popularity was the invention of the popcorn maker, created by Charles Cretors in the 1880s (Figure 2). In fact, the basic design of early popcorn machines has been retained in later developments used for public outings and events. The machine Cretors founded enabled him to establish a company that still exists, where it specializes in popcorn machines and other concession foods. Cretors machine used steam to do the roasting, and it was suitable for roasting peanuts as well as making popcorn. The key innovation was the machine automated the process of popping the kernels and seasoning the popcorn, making the process uniform and thus ensuring that almost all the kernels came out the same. This facilitated the process of making popcorn from a more manual effort, where many kernels would not often pop or get equal heat, to one where a lot of popcorn could be made easily. <ref>For more on Cretors' early machine, see: Fussell, B. H. (2004). <i>The story of corn.</i> University of New Mexico Press pbk. ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pg. 12.</ref> The presence of Cretors' machines in festivals and fairs soon began to associate popcorn with these events, which popcorn is still associated with today. By 1900s, Cretors' popcorn machines began to use electricity rather than steam. This early use of electricity insured that the company and the brand was well positioned for the increased electrification that occurred for household and larger consumer suppliers during the first few decades of the 20th century. Such developments now also made popcorn machines become more typical household items. Interestingly, the Great Depression had little effect for popcorn makers. During this time, popcorn was so cheap to make that it became a common food for consumption, enabling many suppliers to thrive in very difficult economic circumstances. It also meant that popcorn became more popular, as the low prices helped to spread its consumption outside of just carnivals or fairs but to also more daily consumption. One such business was the Redenbacher family, where the family was able to support itself during difficult economic circumstances by selling popcorn. This family today is still associated with a popular popcorn brand.<ref>For more on the development of popcorn machines and growing popularity, see: Nielsen, L. M. (2007). <i>The biography Biography of cornCorn.</i> New York, NY: Crabtree Pub. Co., pg. 23.</ref>

The basic concept of Many changes to popcorn have focused on technology changes to making popcorn has not shifted much. For instance, although variations of in 1978 the basic Presto company introduced what would become a popular air popper. This was introduced as a healthier way to make popcorn have been around for sometimeas it did not require oil to make. Caramel The association of air popper popcornwith health have not gone unnoticed by the health food industry, among the most popular variations where such popcorn is advertised as one of the salted or plain type health snacks to consume in trying to lose weight. Microwave popcorn, has been around since the Chicago World's Fair 1940s, but only since the 1970s and 1980s, in 1893. In some countriesparticular, sweet popcorn it was more widely commercialized as microwaves became increasingly popular, rather than the salty variety, such as in parts . Packing of Europe and the UK.<ref>For more on popcorn varietiesalso improved with new chemicals, see: Podojil, J. (2013). <i>Popcorn favorites: everything you want allowing microwaved popcorn to know about popcorn and more.</i> Bloomington, IN: Trafford On Demand Pubbe increasingly exported by the United States.</ref>

Many changes to popcorn have focused on technology changes to making popcorn. For instance, in 1978 the Presto company introduced what would become a popular air popper. This was introduced as a healthier way to make popcorn as it did not require oil to make. The association of air popper popcorn with health have not gone unnoticed by the health food industry, where such popcorn is advertised as one of the health snacks to consume in trying to lose weight. Microwave popcorn has been around since the 1940s, but only since the 1970s and 1980s, in particular, it was more widely commercialized as microwaves became popular. Packing of popcorn also improved with new chemicals, allowing microwaved popcorn to be increasingly exported by the United States. For some, however, the fact that microwaved popcorn generally has more fat, sometimes taking up to 60% of the calories in this type of popcorn, made it less attractive. Various artificial flavoring and coating chemicals used also make it potentially damaging to the environment and could have long-term health implications. More recently, markets and packing has focused on creating popcorn products that mimic moviegoer experience popcorn. Brands have also attempted to cleanup wasteful production involved in popcorn packaging. New products apply brightly painted boxes or other iconography, although with applying a lot of butter or butter substitutes, to the popcorn to create a so-called movie-going taste that people often associate with popcorn.<ref>For more on recent technologies associated with popcorn, see: Smith 2013: 686. </ref>