Tupperware - What Is It?

Ask someone what Tupperware is, and they will probably answer quickly if they are of a certain generation. Many adults define Tupperware simply as plastic dishes with lids that “burp” to keep out air. That is not an adequate definition, however, as the market has been flooded with plastic dishes that have lids. Who knows whether they “burp” or not? Who knows whether they are real Tupperware?

Define Tupperware

Tupperware is a brand name used for a line of plastic products used mainly for the preparation, Storage, and serving of food and beverages. It features airtight lids that “burp” out excess air to keep food fresh and healthy.

Creation of Tupperware

Tupperware was created in the United States in 1945 by a DuPont chemist, Earl Silas Tupper (1907-1983). Using Polyethylene, a new plastic that was formulated during the just-ended World War II, Tupper created a bathroom drinking glass that would not shatter when dropped. He made the tumbler available in a rainbow of colors, which quickly became popular.

Development of Tupperware

With his Polyethylene tumblers well accepted, Tupper realized that the attractive, durable, and very pliable synthetic polymer was exactly right for an array of kitchen and home Storage products.

Tupper moved on to create bowls of the same material, with the now-famous lids that “burp” to make them airtight and virtually liquid-tight.

More Tupperware Products

Over the next years, Mr. Tupper continued to add new products to his Tupperware line. When he retired, others took up the work, and more Tupperware products were developed.

Today (2007), Tupperware offers the following 7 lines of products, each guaranteed for life. Names of the lines vary in some of the nearly 100 countries where Tupperware is sold.

1. FlatOut! (US), Go Flex! (AU), MiniMax (UK, DE): These bowls fold like accordions for flat Storage, and expand as needed.

2. FridgeSmart (US, UK, AU), PrimaKlima (DE): Modular containers to keep refrigerated fruits and vegetables fresh and healthy, these Tupperware containers have unique air control vents.

3. Modular Mates (US, AU), Kompakt-System (DE), Space Savers (UK): These Tupperware containers are oval and rectangular in shape. They stack to save space. Their air-tight seals protect food from getting stale or drawing pests.

4. OvenWorks (US, AU), UltraPlus (UK, DE): Amazingly, these plastic containers can be used in either a microwave or conventional oven.

5. Rock ‘N Serve (US, AU), CrystalPlus (UK): Microwaveable, and with a special vent to avoid splatters, these Tupperware containers go from freezer to microwave to table.

6. Sheerly Elegant (US), Eleganzia (UK, DE), Illusions (AU): This line of Tupperware consists of stylish, sheer serving pieces.

7. Stuffables (US, UK), Bungee (DE): Tupperware Refrigerator Storage, these containers have flexible lids that allow you to over “stuff” the bowls.

Interesting Note

Before he developed Tupperware, Mr. Tupper had held many and varied jobs. He worked as a mail clerk for a time, and on a railroad labor crew. An entrepreneur, he ran his own successful landscaping and nursery business after that. Finally, he founded an industrial plastics company, and spent a number of years developing a wide range of inventive ideas, including Tupperware.

Earl Tupper’s Tupperware company became so successful that he was able to sell it in 1958, just 13 years after creating the product, for approximately 16 million dollars. He retired and lived very comfortably for 25 years more.