The Food That Built America
Food will tell the unknown stories of innovation and rivalries behind food industry tycoons Milton Hershey, John and Will Kellogg, Henry Heinz, C.W. Post, the McDonald brothers and more.
Genre: Documentary, History
Cast:Campbell Scott , Adam Richman , Yohuru Williams , Libby O'Connell , Edward Moon , Mireya Loza , Carey Latimore , Vallery Lomas , Joanna Saltz , Sarah Wassberg Johnson , Bryant Simon , Alex Biestek , RZA , H.W. Brands , Bill Oakley , James Zeiss , Romi Kher , Glen Raphael
S1.E1 ∙ Lines in the Sand
After the Civil War, a revolution takes place in industry. Innovators, like Henry Heinz, John and Will Kellogg, and thief CW Post launched businesses. Cocoa Cola's inventor dies without seeing the success, and the brand removes cocaine.
S1.E2 ∙ Best Served Cold
At the dawn of the 20th Century, a new breed of innovator rises up to expand American industry and push the limits of new technology. A trailblazer named Milton Hershey bets big on a revolutionary idea, and then a father and son duo named Mars start on a path to challenge the chocolate throne. Plus, the titans of food weather the storm of the First World War and push the boundaries of invention in the Roaring Twenties.
S1.E3 ∙ The Spoils of War
After the depression, food titans innovate to feed the nation. WWII provides incentives for food empires to unite to feed the war effort.
S2.E1 ∙ Pizza Wars
In the 1950's, two enterprising brothers from Wichita, Kansas aim to build their restaurant, Pizza Hut, into a franchise empire. Domino's, threatens to derail their first-of-its-kind pizza franchise juggernaut.
S2.E2 ∙ Chocolate Rush
In 1919, Milton Hershey is king of the chocolate business. But everything changes when in a Post WW1 sugar price drop, a rush of competitors spring up.
S2.E3 ∙ The Kings of Burgers
In the 1950s, Ray Kroc franchises McDonald's nationwide, but right behind Kroc a wave of other entrepreneurs try to cash in on the fast food restaurant craze. Two Florida visionaries start up what will become Kroc's biggest rival, by re-inventing their kitchen's equipment into the pioneering "flame broiler." Over the next two decades the two iconic restaurants battle it out over burgers, launching signature sandwiches that will become staples all over the world.
S2.E4 ∙ American Cheese
At the turn of the 20th century, James Kraft challenges thousands of years of cheese-making tradition and forever alters the dairy industry with his new cheese innovation. Meanwhile, the Pabst brothers are desperate to keep their successful beer empire solvent through Prohibition, and introduce a shelf-stable cheese of their own, putting them on a collision course with James Kraft's flourishing cheese juggernaut.
S2.E5 ∙ Cola Wars
In the 1970s, one major cola brand launches a blind taste test marketing plan that takes direct aim at their biggest competitor. As a new era of competition heats up between the behemoth brands, each side selects a new leader who takes the companies to battle in a rivalry that will birth countless iconic soda products and memorable marketing stunts.
S2.E6 ∙ Chip Dynasties
Herman Lay takes regional and small-time chips business to a national scale with his cutting-edge sales techniques and world-changing packaging technology, while a rival innovator invents a new kind of snack chip that will challenge Lay's crown.
S2.E7 ∙ Cookie Wars
A business partnership gone wrong leads Adolphus Green to create one of the most iconic cookie and cracker companies in history, and it revolutionizes packaging.
S2.E8 ∙ Soup of the Century
A chemist working at the Joseph A. Campbell preserve company invents a condensed soup, which attracts attention from Henry Heinz, who, becomes a competitor in a race for revolutionary innovation and nationwide soup sales dominance.
S2.E9 ∙ Godfathers of Fast Food
A short order chef invents the hamburger bun and engineers a new way of making a burger faster than ever before; Nathan Handwerker invests his life savings into a hot dog stand at Coney Island.
S2.E10 ∙ The TV Dinner
Gilbert Swanson inherits his father's frozen turkey company and innovates the TV Dinner; And restaurateur Vernon Stouffer brings his frozen meals to market, while also harnesses sing a new technology called...the microwave.
S2.E11 ∙ Ice Cream Empires
A young boy accidentally discovers frozen treats on a stick, while a candy store owner radically re-invents ice cream and launches the first ever ice cream truck.
S2.E12 ∙ A Game of Chicken
In the 1970's, Ray Kroc is far ahead of the competition, but when a burger chain, claiming to be king, poaches his third-highest ranking executive, Don Smith, it's war.
S2.E13 ∙ When the Chips Are Down
As C.E. Doolin and Herman Lay are out to prove the potential of the chips business in the 1950's, their success inspires one of the biggest companies in the world to enter the chip market. When a chemist begins work on a secret project, designing a strong, saddle-shaped chip and a revolutionary container to ship them in, the companies go head to head for market dominance.
S2.E14 ∙ The Rise of a Rival
The revolutionary early rise of Coca Cola and its greatest rival, Pepsi.
S2.E15 ∙ Gum Slingers
William Wrigley stumbles upon a new product that kickstarts a revolution across industries and sparks a lifelong rivalry.
S2.E16 ∙ Breakfast Barons
Reedited segment from the first episode about the private war between innovator Will Kellogg and ripoff artist C.W. Post that led to the creation of the breakfast cereal industry and redefined the concept of breakfast.
S3.E1 ∙ Submarine Warfare
High school friends see an alternative to fast food with the "submarine" sandwich, but they are quickly met with fierce competition from a new submarine joint that will go on to be the biggest restaurant chain in the world.
S3.E2 ∙ A Cold One
In the late 1800s, German immigrants Joseph Schlitz and Captain Frederick Pabst find themselves in a battle for beer dominance. In their fight for one-upmanship, they will help create the most popular alcoholic beverage on the planet.
S3.E3 ∙ Do or Donut
When a commercial caterer realises his two best selling items are doughnuts and coffee, he joins forces with his brother-in-law to create a revolutionary doughnut chain. Soon a rivalry starts with a beloved Southern-based doughnut shop.
S3.E4 ∙ A Dish Best Served... Soft
When his ice cream truck breaks down, Tom Carvel discovers that half-melted ice cream is a surefire hit with customers.
S3.E5 ∙ The Best Thing Since...
In a quest to dominate the growing commercial bread industry, Lee Marshall bets on a new kind of white loaf, unwittingly inspiring a homemaker named Margaret Rudkin to come up with a healthier alternative.
S3.E6 ∙ Cookie Fortunes
Hollywood agent Wally Amos transforms his professional life when he decides to make and sell his own gourmet chocolate chip cookies, and opens America's first cookie store; housewife Debbi Fields opens her home-style cookie shop in a mall.
S3.E7 ∙ The Beef is On
When Colonel Sanders sells his company to investors in 1964, the new owners identify a rising star within the organization: Dave Thomas.
S3.E8 ∙ Pop Stars
Small town farmer Orville Redenbacher has a lifelong dream of creating the perfect popcorn kernel, leading to the first significant development of popcorn in thousands of years which he sells nationwide, eventually pitting him against industry rivals for supremacy of America's oldest snack.
S3.E9 ∙ Beyond the Burger
Restaurateur Glen Bell works to create a burger alternative for the overcrowded fast-food market and after several setbacks goes on to help introduce the taco to America with his namesake restaurant; while two brothers also look to beat the burger by betting that a roast beef sandwich can compete with the national burger chains.
S3.E10 ∙ Chain Reaction
In New York City, former Olympic wrestler Rocky Aoki and a perfume salesman become the unlikely fathers of a casual dining revolution when they open wildly different establishments in the heart of the city: one of America's first Japanese restaurants, and a swinging singles bar that will go on to become one of the country's most iconic restaurant chains.
S3.E11 ∙ Let Them Eat Snack Cakes
Martha Entenmann takes the reins of her late husband's baking company and grows it into a national powerhouse; a married couple bankrupt one bakery, but succeed their second time around with a revolutionary way to sell snack cakes.
S3.E12 ∙ Pasta Party
Hector and Mario Boiardi open an Italian restaurant in Cleveland in 1924 and soon introduce Italian food to Americans; the brothers eventually find themselves in competition with James Kraft and his newest offering, macaroni and cheese.
S4.E1 ∙ Breakfast That Pops
Two heavy-hitting cereal rivals duke it out for breakfast dominance; competition heats up when an idea is stolen; the ensuing battle transforms the breakfast landscape from a labor intensive meal at the table, to a meal of convenience on the go.
S4.E2 ∙ Holiday Treats
The top selling candy days of the year revolve around Easter, Valentine's Day and Halloween. And it all started with a few bold pioneers.
S4.E3 ∙ Flight of the Buffalo Wing
Before chicken wings were America's favorite Sunday football snack, they were considered an undesirable cut of meat. Until two restaurateurs in Buffalo, New York, reinvent the way wings are cooked.
S4.E4 ∙ Candy Revolution
A cereal executive's bold idea to finance the "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" movie will kick-off a candy revolution that produces some of the most iconic, imaginative confections in history.
S4.E5 ∙ Clash of the Coffee
Coffee's quality and popularity wane by the 1960s, until a handful of visionaries turn the industry on its head. First, three college friends create an iconic brand of revolutionary gourmet Coffee. Then, this now-iconic chain creates an entirely new category of restaurant.
S4.E6 ∙ The Chicken Coup
A devout Georgia diner owner stumbles into the chicken game when he develops a unique fried chicken sandwich with a batch of cast-off filets. The unique sandwich he creates will become the menu centerpiece at one of the most popular fast-food chains in the world.
S4.E7 ∙ When Food Freezes Over
Four intrepid food entrepreneurs race to harness emerging technologies like the home freezer and microwave, to bring revolutionary frozen snack icons to a waiting world, and forever change what we eat, when we eat, and how we eat.
S4.E8 ∙ Thanksgiving Dinner
A look at some staples of Thanksgiving dinner that weren't around until a few brands used technological advances to reinvent turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and more; food innovators made each part of the meal accessible.
S4.E9 ∙ Peanut Butter Battle
When an entrepreneur creates shelf-stable peanut butter out of his garage, it leads to the birth of an iconic sandwich; as competition heats up to be America's favorite peanut butter, three famous brands battle it out to be number one.
S4.E10 ∙ American Spirits
Two entrepreneurs rise from the ashes of Prohibition by staking everything on two liquors -- a bitter, bottom-shelf whisky, and a flavorless foreign moonshine -- and go on to save an industry and create two of the most popular brands in the country.
S4.E11 ∙ Where There's Smoke
Lighting up the backyard grill is an American summer tradition like no other. But 100 years ago, cooking outside was not nearly as popular or accessible. Most backyard grilling essentials hadn't been invented yet, and many people didn't even have backyards, while the hot dogs we know, and love were still relatively unknown in the marketplace. It would take industry titan Henry Ford, one relentless tinkerer named Kingsford, and a passionate butcher from the Oscar Mayer family to create the most iconic brands of the Summer and change the face of American backyards forever.
S4.E12 ∙ Thirst Quenchers
Before juice was everywhere, these innovators used brilliant ingenuity to create the most nostalgic drink products and thirst quenchers of the last century, leading the charge on a new billion dollar beverage industry.
S4.E13 ∙ Supermarket Sweep
At the turn of the 20th century, Bernard Kroger and upstart grocer Clarence Saunders come up with genius innovations that help invent the modern supermarket.
S4.E14 ∙ Bring Home the Bacon
A young upstart named Oscar Mayer creates one of the most iconic meat brands on the planet; pioneer Jay Hormel invents a meat product sold the world over, which becomes part of a $20 billion food empire.
S4.E15 ∙ Dog Eat Dog
At a time when dog food is a rarity and cat food is almost nonexistent, it will take visionary innovators to invent the first dog treat, dry food, the first cat food, and many more innovations that will carve out the billion-dollar pet food industry.
S4.E16 ∙ Beer Run
At a time when U.S. beer is dominated by the same lager style, one Milwaukee company experiments with something new.
