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.
#3 - 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.
Watch Now:Apple TV
#5 - 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.
Watch Now:Apple TV
#8 - 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.
Watch Now:Apple TV
#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.
Watch Now:Apple TV
#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.
Watch Now:Apple TV
#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.
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#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.
Watch Now:Apple TV
#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.
Watch Now:Apple TV
#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.
Watch Now:Apple TV
#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.
Watch Now:Apple TV
#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.
Watch Now:Apple TV