food processor

food processor, electric appliance developed in the late 20th century, used for a variety of food-preparation functions including kneading, chopping, blending, and pulverizing.

The food processor was invented by Pierre Verdon, whose Le Magi-Mix, a compact household version of his own earlier restaurant-scaled Robot-Coupe, was first exhibited in Paris in 1971. Carl Sontheimer, an American engineer and inventor, refined Verdon’s machines to produce the Cuisinart. The widespread success of the Cuisinart following its exhibition in Chicago in 1973 led a number of other manufacturers to design competing models, and hundreds of thousands of food processors were sold in the late 1970s.

Food processors are of two basic types: those in which most of the work is done in a single bowl by a flat blade, and those fitted with many attachments. Standard accessories include a work bowl, lid, chopping blade, mixing blade, and disks for slicing and shredding.