Tupperware: the end of an era

How many of us remember the truest form of luxury in our childhood kitchens? A well-stocked cupboard full of containers, but not just any containers — the prized Tupperware brand.

News of the brand filing for bankruptcy is truly the end of an era.

I found myself surprisingly sad at this. Yes, the general news cycle is beyond horrific at the moment and world is a harrowingly dark place in most parts, but we try to retain some semblance of joy in little moments of our lives and the kitchen can often deliver. Especially if, as my friend Fritz says, “you know how to cook and understand flavour”.

But how will you share what you prepare without your trusted Tupperware? Tupperware is part of the fabric of our collective nostalgia, and a tweet from Anele Mdoda lamenting Gen Z’s neglect of the brand in recent years made me wonder if it’s generational and stopped with us millennials.

Do you remember hearing your aunts or neighbours often declaring so proudly that they were hosting a Tupperware party, or the family feuds that saw their genesis in an unreturned Tupperware? One that was surreptitiously squirrelled away post a Sunday lunch most probably, but never to be returned to the rightful owner. Where the karmic gods would right this wrong with a melting incident inside a microwave or hot water in the sink. The lids of Tupperware were always what humbled the owner or their offspring, who’d search for the lids that go where single socks or young love goes — a place far away.

The headline “Tupperware Brands Corporation files for bankruptcy” made me realise this was the full name, that it was a few years ago that its future hung in the balance and that it was an American corporation and not an SA household brand. This company that is so synonymous with the kitchens and tables of our childhoods will no longer be in business after 75 years. I’ve often wondered: did white people hold Tupperware in the same esteem as our black families did?

I remember wishing my mother would host a Tupperware party or get a collection going, but alas, we were not in the luxury league of food storage containers. My parents made Addis money, not the Tupperware kind.

Society is so interesting because we find materialism and classism in the strangest of things — even plastic storage containers became an aspirational item. This was one of the original side hustles; teachers, moms, nurses alike, all sold Tupperware. This also spoke to the power of community and word of mouth. Trust and social currency where so ensconced in this business model, which lasted through the ages until now.

I didn’t grow up with Tupperware, but I do remember when I bought my first one. What an entrance into adulthood and understanding that luxury is really an interesting concept. I was doing vac work in a law firm and one of the secretaries sold Tupperware. I bought a two-piece green storage set that I still own today, 18 years later. I parted with the ample sum of about R239 for it. A tidy sum on my little stipend. The joy and pride I felt was priceless. The samp and soup that have been stored and frozen in them have brought endless joy. Also, as with all things Tupperware, this set does not leave my house, except on my person. That is the rule with Tupperware, no-one is to be trusted, except you.

I wonder if its sales model and that it was not available in retail networks are what led to the company going out of business. Is it no longer a luxury item? Who knows?

This could also be a comment on how we gather as people and how everything is now more disposable. Perhaps our discarding culture, which comes with incredible food wastage and increasing food poverty, is also important to note. At the heart of Tupperware was the sharing of what we had. In our homes, we always cooked more food so that there’d be enough for unexpected visitors.

This is something for us to ponder. Over consumption in many aspects of life now has led to more waste and less sharing. Gathering, sharing meals, community and social currency in the networks like the ones that sold Tupperware were so much more than just buying and selling brightly coloured containers. It was the sharing of food, stories and lives. That is where the magic is.

Now, our Tupperwares will take on even more prized positions in our cupboards, and the nostalgia and memories ever bigger in our hearts. I also am drawn to wonder if Tupperware will one day become the new vintage store item du jour.