The microwave oven seems like it would have been a quantum leap for food prep. Did people trust this new technology when it was first introduced? Were early adopters seen as risk takers? Basically was there any backlash from people who didn’t trust this new technology?
Food history, my favorite. Sorry for taking so long to respond. My source for this is "Betty Crocker's Cookbook: New & Revised Edition", p366-7 Microwave Cooking. My best guess at publishing year is ~1969 based on another BC cookbook of mine.
Quoting from the cookbook directly:
Are Microwaves safe?
Cautious scientists agree that microwaves are as safe as other household cooking appliances. Actually, no other appliance has so much safety built into it. The FDA offers these tips:
- Clean door, seals, and inside of microwave with water & mild detergent. Grease around door seal can cause excess radiation emission...
- Have the microwave checked regularly by a microwave technician for wear, damage, tampering, and radiation emission.
As we can see from this section, there was a definite hesitance/mistrust towards microwave adoption stemming from the then-extant layman assumption that any sort of radiation-on-food was bad. I cannot comment on any sort of anti-microwave articles/lobbying efforts sadly. Anecdotally, I can say that my grandmother got her first microwave in 1976 and she was likely on the latter end of adopters.
Edit
I just found a similar question answered here