history of meals for millions, soy, and freedom from ... - SoyInfo Center

abroad of vast quantities of meat, fish, poultry, vegetables,
or such other common food;”
In short, M.P.M. offers a practical, workable solution to
the immediate problem: How can we feed the hungry people
of Europe and Asia without going hungry ourselves.
The proof of this life-saving pudding is in the eating, of
course. Not only is it served and enjoyed in Mr. Clinton’s
restaurants and cafeterias, “it has been served to thousands
of California school children, and during the United Nations
Conference [1945] it was served to the delegates regularly
by George Mardikian, owner-chef of the noted Omar
Khayyam restaurant in San Francisco.”
A photo titled “A complete meal–five cents” shows
Clifford E. Clinton operator of Los Angeles, California,
restaurants which serve 16,000 meals daily, preparing one
of his M.P.M.–Multi-Purpose Meals.
38. Christian Science Monitor.1946. Full steak dinner for
only 3 cents!–Boston samples M.P.M. equivalent. July 17.
p. 4.
• Summary: “As food prices soared to new highs today,
members of the Christian Businessmen’s Committee of
Greater Boston gathered at the City Club this noon for the
equivalent of a complete beefsteak dinner–at a cost of only
three cents!”
They enjoyed the new M.P.M.–Multi-Purpose Meal–
sponsored by the nonprofit Meals for Millions Foundation,
Inc., under the leadership of Los Angeles restaurateur
Clifford E. Clinton. The meal was developed as a relief food
for those left hungry after the recent war.
The Foundation is arranging for the distribution of
M.P.M.’s to the hungry via authorized U.S. agencies. The
food is not yet made or sold commercially–but it may be if
domestic food prices continue to rise.
Yesterday the M.P.M. was served to a group of social
welfare workers at a private home in Boston, and to another
group at Thompson’s Spa in Newspaper Row.
Eight different companies presently manufacture the
relief food at the rate of 100,000 meals a day. Mr. Clinton
says this can soon be increased to 3 million meals a day.
The goal set by the Meals for Millions Foundation is 125
million meals a day and Mr. Clinton says it is entirely
practical and possible to make that number in 1947.
Note: This is the earliest document seen (Feb. 2011)
that gives “3 cents” (or 3¢) as the cost of one of Mr.
Clinton’s new meals.
39. Ellensburg Daily Record (Ellensburg,
Washington).1946. Three cent meal fills all needs. Aug. 1. p.
8.
• Summary: “‘M.P.M.’–is the Multi-Purpose Meal that
offers at three cents a food comparable to a meal of beef,
potatoes, green peas and milk...” It is backed by “Meals for
MEALS FOR MILLIONS, SOY, AND FREEDOM FROM HUNGER 30
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2011
Millions Foundation, Inc., a citizens voluntary non-profit
effort to prevent starvation organized recently in California.
“The California foundation, advised by notable
personalities such as Pearl Buck, Clarence Dykstra, and E.
Stanley Jones, proposes to feed the world’s hungry with
Multi-Purpose Meal evolved [developed] some months ago
by Dr. Henry Borsook, chief biochemist at the California
Institute of Technology. This low-cost food has already been
used extensively in relief work.
The new food is described in an article by Paul de Kruif
in Reader’s Digest (Sept. 1945).
“Los Angeles is at present engaged in a fund-raising
campaign to purchase M.P.M. and conserve food to give to
authorized relief agencies.”
40. Roosevelt, Eleanor. 1946. My day. Toldeo Blade
(Toledo, Ohio). Aug. 1. p. 19.
• Summary: Campobello Island [New Brunswick, Canada],
Wednesday.–Not long ago I was visited by a business man
who has used his business not only for personal success but
also as a means to achieve something for the good of
mankind. He is in the restaurant business in Los Angeles.
“He comes from a family of missionaries who spent
many years in China. They were, therefore, familiar with
famine before the war made famine a word familiar in an
ever-increasing area.
“Mr. Clinton developed a food which can be quickly
prepared and is palatable. In famine areas, each little
package would furnish a person with enough to sustain him
for a third of a day. Mr. Clinton’s son prepared a small
quantity of this food for me and explained that it could have
a variety of flavors. Preparation takes about 5 minutes. This
food is good and I think it might serve as a basis for a
satisfactory diet and be a great benefit in areas where it is
difficult to ship and distribute supplies.
“Mr. Clinton started his business in the early depression
years and made up his mind that no one, even if he could
not pay, would be turned away hungry. So he developed a 5cent
meal, and anyone who did not have the 5 cents could
obtain the meal free. In his laboratory, this food product has
undergone many changes since those days.
“He is hoping to collaborate with relief agencies
everywhere. I can see that this might come to be a basic
food used to great advantage for such things as our schoollunch
program. He has formed a corporation called Meals
for Millions Foundation. It is organized for humanitarian
purposes and will not be operated for profit.”
Mr. Clinton “seems to be one of those rare business
men who, having a successful business, are willing to put
time and money into benefitting mankind.” A small portrait
photo shows Eleanor Roosevelt.
Note: This column is widely syndicated. This article
appeared in the St. Petersburg Times (Florida) (2 Aug. 1946,
p. 25).