The WORST episodes of The Food That Built America
Every episode of The Food That Built America ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Food That Built America!
For generations of Americans, food titans like Henry Heinz, Milton Hershey, John and Will Kellogg, C.W. Post and the McDonald brothers have literally been household names, but you don't know their stories. Before they were brand names, they were brilliant, sometimes ruthless, visionaries who revolutionized food and changed the landscape of America forever. This series event will tell the fascinating stories of the people behind the food that built America – those who used brains, muscle, blood, sweat and tears to get to America's heart through its stomach, and along the way built cities, invented new technologies and helped win wars.
#1 - You Don't Know Jack
Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 5/4/2025
A farmhand named Jack Daniel and a distiller in Tennessee look to bring their quality bootleg whiskey out of the shadows and into a larger market. But against the rise of temperance and prohibition in America, a novel new recipe and Daniel's revolutionary branding tactics pave the way for the best-selling American whiskey in the world.
#2 - Tortilla Takeover
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/23/2025
Bold visionaries risk bringing Mexican food to Americans, creating the top-selling condiment, famous snack chip brands and pairing chips and salsa.
#3 - Beer Run
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 7/23/2023
At a time when U.S. beer is dominated by the same lager style, one Milwaukee company experiments with something new.
#4 - American Spirits
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/23/2023
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.
#5 - All American Marinara
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/25/2024
Imagine a world where marinara sauce isn't part of the American palate. That was true nearly sixty years ago, when food conglomerate Campbells kickstarts what will become an Italian American food staple.
#6 - Champions of Breakfast
Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 4/14/2024
Will Kellogg is on top of the cereal industry after beating out post, but now, the king of cereal has met his match with a young flour mill executive; a decades long war for dominance ensues as Kellogg's and General Mills battle it out.
#7 - Breakfast Barons
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 6/27/2021
Dr. John Kellogg and his brother start a revolution in breakfast, while rival C.W. Post takes direct aim at an empire of his own.
#8 - A Dish Best Served... Soft
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/20/2022
When his ice cream truck breaks down, Tom Carvel discovers that half-melted ice cream is a surefire hit with customers. But while he works to mass produce this new treat, the McCulloughs hit upon the same idea.
#9 - Thirst Quenchers
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/18/2023
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.
#10 - Citrus Soda Stars
Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 7/21/2024
In an early 20th century America where soda is synonymous with cola, small-time St. Louis soda maker Charles Leiper Grigg dares to take on corporate giants Coke and Pepsi by introducing something entirely new–a clear, lemon-lime soda he calls “7-Up.” Little does he know that at the same time, two brothers in Tennessee, Ali and Barney Hartman, have concocted an almost identical soda. What started out as their personal lemon lime cocktail mixer will put them on a collision course with 7-Up when they release it to the public as “Mountain Dew.” Both will evolve into something entirely different than what they began as, but together they’ll crack the industry wide open.
#11 - Movie Theater Munchies
Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/2/2025
A struggling chocolate maker and a young theater assistant create the movie theater concession stand and launch the world's most iconic movie candies.
#12 - Supermarket Sweep
Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 6/25/2023
At the turn of the 20th century, Bernard Kroger and another upstart grocer come up with genius innovations that help invent the modern supermarket.
#13 - Burger Empire: The Ray Kroc Story
Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 7/28/2024
In the 1950s, middle-aged salesman Ray Kroc is drowning in debt when he's inspired by a roadside burger stand he wants to spread nationwide--McDonald's. To buy out the business, he creates the modern model of franchising and ignites a fast-food gold rush. Over three decades, Kroc's innovation produces icons like the Big Mac and Chicken McNugget, crushing the competition to make McDonald's the biggest fast-food chain in the world.
#14 - Bring Home the Bacon
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 7/9/2023
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.
#15 - Lunchbox Legends
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 7/7/2024
Lunchtime is one of the most enjoyable meals of every kid's day, but before the 1960s it was just another meal. Then, three very different food visionaries take matters into their own hands to create lunch time favorites loved by children everywhere, from sandwiches, to fruit snacks, and a build-it-yourself pre-packaged lunch that has become a supermarket staple.
#16 - Penny Candy Craze
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/31/2024
In the early 1900s, an underestimated confectioner creates the first wrapped penny candy--the Tootsie Roll. Meanwhile, an unemployed salesman transforms medicinal hard candy into a fruit flavored, multipack designed purely for fun with Tropical Charms. The two go on to kickstart an entire industry of nationally branded candies and transform the lollipop into a global icon.
#17 - Planet Mars
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/21/2024
After being kicked out of the family business by his father, Forrest Mars scratches and claws his way back to create a multi-sector global empire, Mars Inc. Today that empire is worth over $47 billion dollars and a family dynasty that is the third wealthiest in America, worth nearly $100 billion.
#18 - Ice Cream Revolution
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/3/2024
A cab driver turned ice cream entrepreneur comes up with the idea to mix name brand candy into high quality ice cream to create new novel flavors. After opening an ice cream shop to share his mix-in creations, his concept skyrockets.
#19 - Clash of the Coffee
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/19/2023
Two icons compete for America's coffee drinkers and forever change a worldwide, multi-billion-dollar industry.
#20 - Holiday Treats
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/26/2023
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.
#21 - Dog Eat Dog
Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 7/16/2023
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.
#22 - Cookie Wars
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/21/2021
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.
#23 - Beer Necessities
Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/20/2025
A German immigrant looks to revolutionize the American beer industry when he's handed a struggling brewery; his signature beer will go on to amass sales of over 11 billion dollars a year.
#24 - Flight of the Buffalo Wing
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/5/2023
As new wing-focused restaurant chains take the recipe out of Buffalo, N.Y., restaurateurs must find a way to cleverly market the new "Buffalo wings" to turn their restaurants into national icons, and chicken wings into a global phenomenon.
#25 - Legends of the Mall
Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/23/2025
Early American malls have no food court, until a cinnamon bun, a pretzel, and a panda all move in to create three of the world's most iconic food brands and transform the American Mall.