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

101. Hendrick, Kimmis. 1955. ‘Meals for Millions’ grows.
Christian Science Monitor. Nov. 4. p. 4. *
• Summary: Mentions Florence Rose of the Meals for
Millions Foundation. Address: Head, Pacific News Bureau
of The CSM.
102. Abrahams, Maurice Martin. 1955. Sees Brazil, U.S.
market for soy. Soybean Digest. Dec. p. 24.
• Summary: “As a licensee for Brazil of the Meals for
Millions Foundation–the prime mover in many food
research programs throughout the world–we have
developed here a really superlative Multi-Purpose Food
consisting almost exclusively of defatted soja, vitamins and
minerals...
“The importance of our program down here is that our
product will serve two basic interests of governmental
authorities: 1. Promote soybean cultivation. 2. Promote the
consumption of soybean products by humans so that these
humans can receive far better nourishment at lower cost.”
Address: Sao Paulo, Brazil.
103. Marshall, Eleanor M. 1955. Meals fMr millions.
American Mercury 81:83-85. Dec.
• Summary: This is the story of Multi-Purpose Food, which
can be sold for only 3 cents a meal. “Clifford Clinton is the
man responsible for getting MPF experiments underway. He
is the son of a missionary who worked in China... His work
for the last eight years has been that of carrying out his
boyhood dream of supplying cheap meals for hungry
millions. His two Los Angeles cafeterias were the starting
points in his battle.
“During the depression he contrived a meal costing five
cents. It consisted of soup, meat, potatoes, and green
vegetable and a pudding. This served to allay hunger for
thousands of the jobless.
“Yet Mr. Clinton was not content. His next venture was
to enlist the help of other suppliers in the area and to serve
meals at a penny a portion. These consisted of a bowl of rice
with a ladle of soup poured over it. He had rolls of tickets
printed and sold them indiscriminately for one cent each.
“As soon as the government relief programs began
operating, this penny restaurant was discontinued but the
five-cent meal (without the ticket idea) continued to be
served at Clinton’s during afternoon hours. These meals
were hash or beans, two vegetables, bread and butter, a
beverage and a dessert.
“Although Mr. Clinton was running in the red with all
such meals, he was just as determined as ever to find a way
of supplying an adequate diet at a low cost. He knew much
more about the problem now, for he had served nearly a
million bowls of soup in less than six months! By the end of
World War II he was ready to give $5,000 to California
Institute of Technology in 1947 to start a project with these
stipulations: ‘I want a cheap food that is high in nutrition,
MEALS FOR MILLIONS, SOY, AND FREEDOM FROM HUNGER 47
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can be easily shipped and will not spoil if stored for long
periods. And it must not violate any religious or social food
taboos.’
“Dr. Henry Borsook, one of the Institute’s biochemists,
agreed to undertake the work. He was able to cut the cost
from the five-cent limit to three cents a meal.
“Borsook knew that soybeans are plentiful and contain
much protein. He knew also that there is no scarcity of the
solid vegetable matter called ‘grits’ that is left over from
firms using soybeans to make margarine fats and cooking
oils. So he used 90 percent soy grits and added minerals and
vitamins to produce the formula now known as Multi-
Purpose Food...
“Norris E. Dodd, Director-General of Food and
Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations, has said: ‘I
don’t believe you can build a just or lasting peace in a
hungry world.’
“One answer is the Meals for Millions Foundation,
which in six and one-half years has had a total of
$800,650.36 from contributions by individuals and
purchases made by relief agencies. They have supplied from
this: 250,000 meals to the Philippines; 330,000 to Lebanon;
several hundred thousand to Austria and Greece; and many
more thousand meals for the poor in Italy as well as for the
Navajo and Hopi Indian reservations and the migrant labor
camps in California and Arizona.”
Note: This is an early record of soyfoods in Lebanon.
104. Photograph of Nelda and Clifford Clinton, mid-1950s
(Los Angeles, California). 1955.
• Summary: Nelda played an important role in helping her
husband, Clifford, with the development of Multi-Purpose
Food. Her son, Don, recalls that Nelda was in charge of the
cafeterias when Clifford went into the army in early 1942.
She played a supportive role to his Meals for Millions
involvement and often spoke to groups in that connection,
i.e., churches, women’s groups, etc. Florence Rose was the
dominant female figure in those days and Ernie