When did Popeye first eat a can of spinach and get super-strength?

Cafe Society
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From time to time, a rather mundane, pointless, not-at-all Earth shattering question (usually about something very geeky) will take hold of my mind and I will not be able to shake it. Just yesterday, I happen to be reading an article about how spinach has an exaggerated reputation as a super-food (it apparently does not have anywhere near as much iron as most people think.)

Reading the description of spinach as a (supposed) super-food made me think of Popeye, eating a can and instantly gaining super-strength to clobber Bluto. And from there, I got to idly musing - “When did the whole trope of Popeye eating a can of spinach begin?”

The background that I know of: Popeye originally began as a rather late addition to the comic strip “Thimble Theater.” Originally Olive Oyl and her family were the main characters, and most of the secondary characters (Bluto, Wimpy) were already well established before Olive & co. went on an extended sea voyage adventure necessitating they hire a Sea Captain. The captain - eventually dubbed ‘Popeye’ very quickly became a fan favorite, and “THIMBLE THEATER starring OLIVE OYL” became “THIMBLE THEATER starring Olive Oyl, but featuring POPEYE” and finally just “POPEYE”.

What I can’t find online is a reference to Popeye’s best known trait - eating a can of spinach. That doesn’t seem to be an original feature of the character. Even some of the earliest Fleischer cartoons don’t show him eating spinach, so it must have been a later addition to the strip.

What I’m wondering about is when did this start? And is there any odd backstory as to how the gimmick evolved? If anybody knows I’d be interested to hear it. Thanks.

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It did appear in the comic strip originally, but was rarely used.

This article covers the reason for it nicely, including an explanation from Popeye himself.

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February 28, 1932. Popeye ate a bowl and knocked out a braggert. He then breaks the fourth wall and says, “Please tell yer youngstirs I said they should eat spinach an’ vegetables on account of I wants 'em to be strong and healthy.”

As for Chuck’s article, the date of the strip given there is July so it’s a later reference. But the consistent references to spinach, whether they were part of a misplaced belief in the amount of iron in it or not, seems to prove that they were a deliberate effort to get kids to eat healthier.

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**When did Popeye first eat a can of spinach and get super-strength? **

Probably when he was a little kid. That’s when his nephews got started on the stuff.

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And here’s one panel from that seminal strip (search on the linked page for February 28).