1979’S TASTE OF THE FUTURE

CATHY CHAPMAN was a young product developer at Marks & Spencer in 1979 when she persuaded the company to create a ‘respectable’ ready meal: the chilled chicken kiev. ‘It was the dawn of double-income families, who had more money than time,’ recalls Chapman. ‘We knew people were prepared to pay a bit extra for something they could entertain with if they wanted to. Garlic was only just becoming popular, but I was confident it would sell.’

She was right. Families keen to enjoy bistro-style food at home loved them, and they were as likely to be served as a TV dinner as they were at a dinner party.

For Chapman it was vindication – just months earlier the company had decreed her new dish ‘too garlicky’ and told her it wouldn’t sell. ‘I insisted that it wasn’t kiev without the garlic,’ she reveals.

Chapman went on to launch the first ready-made lasagne, chilli con carne, spring rolls and chicken tikka masala – and she develops new meals for M&S to this day.