Tupperware

Beginner 🍳 Food / Culinary

Definition

Lightweight, durable plastic food storage containers with airtight lids, originally marketed through home sales parties where consultants demonstrated the products to guests. The term has become genericized to refer to any similar plastic food storage container.

Example Usage

She packed her lunch in Tupperware to keep it fresh throughout the workday.

Origin

Named after inventor Earl Tupper, who developed the plastic in 1947; popularized through direct sales by Brownie Wise's party plan method starting in 1951.

Fun Fact

Tupperware parties became a cultural phenomenon and were a primary way women could earn income during the 1950s and 1960s.

Source: Definition backfill (hailey)

Related Terms

Intermediate

Coulis

A smooth, strained sauce made from pureed fruits or vegetables. It's what happens when you put berries in a blender and then run the result through a strainer so you can charge $14 more for dessert. The fancy zigzag on your plate? That's coulis doing overtime.

🍳 Food / Culinary
Beginner

push it

An urgent command to send a completed dish to the dining room immediately, usually because timing is critical or the server has been waiting too long. No dawdling allowed.

🍳 Food / Culinary
Advanced

blanquette

A classic French white stew where neither the meat nor the sauce gets browned, resulting in a pale, creamy dish that looks deceptively simple but requires actual technique. Traditionally made with veal, chicken, or lamb swimming in a velvety sauce, it's comfort food for people who pronounce "herb" without the H. The culinary equivalent of wearing all white—elegant but high-maintenance.

🍳 Food / Culinary
Beginner

Farm-to-Table

A food movement emphasizing locally sourced ingredients that traveled a short distance from where they were grown to your plate. It's how restaurants justify charging $28 for a salad by telling you the lettuce had a shorter commute than you did.

🍳 Food / Culinary
Intermediate

Emulsion

The magical act of forcing two liquids that hate each other -- like oil and water -- to get along. Mayonnaise is an emulsion. So is hollandaise. Basically, a whisk is a couples therapist for condiments. One wrong move and it 'breaks' like a bad relationship.

🍳 Food / Culinary
Beginner

Food Porn

Visually seductive images of food so professionally shot and styled that they trigger an almost inappropriate level of desire. These Instagram-worthy culinary glamour shots make you suddenly ravenous for gourmet burgers at 2 AM despite having just eaten dinner.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Translate This Term

See “Tupperware” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

Try the Translator

Share This Term

Post on XShare on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

Discover a Term

Intermediate

hyperlipidemia

Abnormally elevated levels of lipids (fats) in the blood, including cholesterol and triglycerides. Your bloodstream's ve...