The former boxer transformed American cooking, and himself, with an appliance that remains a cultural touchstone.
The George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine was the kitchen appliance America didn’t know it needed.
When it arrived in the mid-1990s, Food Network and food blogging had just been born. Martha Stewart was redefining home entertaining, and Richard Simmons had made low-fat fun. Salsa was outselling ketchup for the first time, a reflection of the country’s changing demographics and its surging interest in food and cooking.
Mr. Foreman, who had left boxing and became an evangelical preacher, was making money as a pitchman for Doritos and mufflers. He wasn’t an instant convert to the grill. An early model that the Salton company shipped him, as it searched for a spokesman, sat unused until his wife, Mary, pulled it out and made a couple of hamburgers.
Mr. Foreman agreed to let Salton, a manufacturer of juice extractors and pasta makers, slap his name on the grill, and by 1996 it had sold $5 million worth. The company would go on to sell more than 100 million of the appliances.
The George Foreman Grill infused itself into all layers of society. It became a dorm-room staple and a star on late-night television. Chefs at the sprawling Tavern on the Green in New York City set one up near the dining room to quickly grill tuna steaks for salade niçoise. Jimmy Breslin, the tough-talking newspaper columnist from Queens, kept one on the counter in his New York apartment and raved about it to visitors.
