"Were they safe?..." This was a question that not only our household pondered, but many of our neighbors as well. The fear of "nuclear radiation" leaking out while heating up one's Tater Tots was one of the stigmas attached to microwave ovens. In 1974, when Amana produced their newest "Radarange" model, my Mom refused to even consider having one in the house. She was still using our conventional oven to heat up our Banquet chicken and TV dinners. 30-45 minutes was the cook time, and we'd learned to be patient as there was no other way to heat up frozen dinners. Though the Radarange has its roots in the market as far back as 1967, they were still a relatively unknown product in our corner of the world.
Rumors circulating of a super-oven that could cook sausages in 30 seconds as opposed to the 6-10 minute stove top cook time made many American households want one. There were also rumors of radiation poisoned food that came out of a microwave oven that prevented our house from having one. However, as they grew in popularity, (and no news reports of people dying from radiation poisoning or radioactive leakage), they were far more acceptable in our neighborhood. I believe we got our first microwave in the late seventies, or early eighties. "Just nuke it for 10 seconds" was the perfect instruction on how to warm up a cup of coffee.
There were rules to microwave ovens though: do not put anything metal in them; they may explode and turn you and your family into 50-foot tall super freaks with X-ray eyes! Don't leave a fork on a plate, and make sure the plate doesn't have any gold trim to sizzle and spark on the platen. (Also, if you were wearing braces on your teeth, don't stick your head in the oven). Ah, such were the days of great inventions, and the wonderful memories they provide.
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