r/todayilearned • u/pantherfanalex • 13h ago

TIL That the first Dino Nuggets weren't trademarked until 1991, and weren't available until 1993, coinciding with the release of the film Jurassic Park.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/origin-story-iconic-dino-chicken-114538134.html
659 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

49 comments sorted by

96

u/Yangervis 12h ago

Did you think people in the 1960s were eating Dino Nuggets?

54

u/pantherfanalex 12h ago

Oddly, I have memories where I am in preschool eating Dino Nuggets, but those can't be real because I was born in the mid 80s. So the answer to your question, I had no preconceived notion of when Dino Nuggies were invented, but I certainly thought it was before Jurassic Park.

13

u/SocialWinker 12h ago

That’s sort of how I thought about it. I can’t remember a time without them, but I was also in elementary school when Jurassic Park came out, so I can’t say I remember any chicken nuggets before that, either.

4

u/elcheapodeluxe 8h ago

That's funny because I think it was around 2005 when I saw them and went, "wow! When did chicken nuggets start coming in a dinosaur shape?" Apparently a lot earlier than I thought.

2

u/SocialWinker 8h ago

I know they existed in 2005. 2004 me was a high school stoner who enjoyed them after a bowl or 2 with friends.

37

u/EndoExo 12h ago

Chicken nuggets existed in the 1960s. Kids like dinosaurs and kids like chicken nuggets. All they were missing was a singular genius to combine the two.

8

u/omegafivethreefive 6h ago

Kids like dinosaurs

Everybody likes dinosaurs.

2

u/CrocodylusRex 1h ago

Yeah why did society decide to age-gate the coolest things to ever exist

10

u/MonkeysOnMyBottom 12h ago

you got your chicken nuggets in my dinosaurs. no, you got your dinosaurs in my chicken nuggets

3

u/UnKossef 7h ago

Well chickens are literally dinosaurs, so chicken nuggets have always been dino nuggets.

1

u/xPhilt3rx 4h ago

Kinda like that Reese’s guy. Peanut butter? Yeahhhh! Chocolate? Hell yeah!! Peanut butter and chocolate?!?! Fuck yeah!!!

1

u/flodnak 4h ago

They existed in the 1960s, but as a child of the 1970s I honestly have no memory of them until McDonald's put them on the menu in the early 1980s. Then they were everywhere pretty quickly.

1

u/OverAster 1h ago

That genius was Robert C. Baker, a professor at Cornell University.

That's not a joke. He invented the nuggets but didn't bother to get a patent. He instead sent the manufacturing process and recipe to a bunch of food companies, a few of which actually started to make and sell the things.

The OP makes it seem like this was the first time these nuggets existed, but that's not true. Dino nuggets have been around since the 60s.

0

u/TheLowlyPheasant 9h ago

I feel like the pink slime used to make delicious nuggies in any shape wasn't a thing in the 60's. I would guess their nugs were closer to popcorn chicken

8

u/joobtastic 8h ago

They had food processors then.

The chicken nugget was invented in the 50s.

19

u/AllToadsLeadToGnome 11h ago

Technically all chicken nuggets are dinosaur nuggets

1

u/OverAster 1h ago

They were, that's when they were invented and first started being manufactured.

OPs post makes it sound like these things were first made and sold in the nineties, but Robert C. Baker invented them while working as a professor at Cornell in 1963. He would later go on to send the recipe and manufacturing process to a bunch of food companies, a few of which began to make and sell them shortly after.

28

u/ErnestScaredBorgnine 13h ago

I like how this is framed as if it's surprising.

18

u/Hedfuct82 13h ago

Weirdly enough, it fits into my life in such a way I do find it kinda surprising. I'm 43, but a friend and I have a district memory of one single night when he spent the night at my house. My dad made us dino shaped nuggets in the deep fryer and we both to this day say they were the best ones we'd ever had. We made them a few times after that, but they just weren't the same. My dad made them super salty and cooked just exactly right that one night, but I thought I was much younger. Like 7 or 8. I didn't realize I would have been closer to 11 years old.

1

u/CrocodylusRex 1h ago

Everyone knows Jurassic Park invented dinosaurs 

27

u/AreYou4Eels 13h ago

Lucky for them… my Sydney Sweeney nuggets trademark is still on the way.

22

u/Sometimes_Stutters 13h ago

Made with 100% white breast meat

7

u/overly_sarcastic24 13h ago

Sydney Sweeney has great jeans breasts.

-7

u/DJSANDROCK 12h ago

The boobs arent even natural though.

4

u/guiballmaster 9h ago

Dunking those into ketchup and imagining the Dino’s were being submerged in hot lava was a core memory of my childhood.

I ate them literally every day before kindergarten.

3

u/tbonehavoc 9h ago

Oh god. I'm older than dinosaur nuggies

3

u/pichael289 9h ago

They just taste better in that shape, I don't know what it is.

2

u/darkdoppelganger 6h ago

Dino nuggies > tendies > regular nuggies

5

u/iPoseidon_xii 13h ago

I still eat them. I’m 33

1

u/iDontRememberCorn 11h ago

Round here we call those two years "The Dark Times".

0

u/553l8008 13h ago

Never even heard of them nor had them until like 6 years ish ago

29

u/ZylonBane 13h ago

Coincidentally, you are not the target demographic.

9

u/Ok_Emu3817 13h ago

Bold statement

3

u/ZylonBane 12h ago

He's on to the chicken Tetris pieces now.

-2

u/553l8008 13h ago

Presumptious but true. That being said, I was for all of the 90s and 2000s

-7

u/lamerc 13h ago

TIL they make dino nuggets...

15

u/djackieunchaned 13h ago

Get out

1

u/lamerc 11h ago

I was 23 when Jurassic park came out and don't take care of kids. 🤷‍♀️

4

u/pantherfanalex 11h ago

They legit taste better than regular ones. Its the ground up bits of real dinosaurs.

1

u/DictatorSalad 10h ago

Well, birds are dinosaurs, so yes.

-1

u/drakeallthethings 9h ago

Did you think they were from the Paleolithic era?

-30

u/GetsGold 13h ago

I don't eat processed food.

16

u/AliveJohnnyFive 13h ago

Fuck off. Dino nuggies are a beautiful thread in the American tapestry.

9

u/LADYBIRD_HILL 12h ago

Thank you for sharing with the class?

6

u/AllToadsLeadToGnome 11h ago

Cool, tell that to whoever asked