The Food that Built America

[The Late Night Gourmet]

This is a series that debuted in 2019, and now is into its second season. The show is on the History Channel, not Food Network, so what you really get here is a fascinating dive into the history of some of the world's biggest brands. While the title sounds overblown, we do get to see how the changing state of the world in the Industrial Revolution resulted in the development of food packaging and distribution. People moved from rural areas to the city, and didn't have the means to raise their own food, so they had to rely on others to provide that food. The first episode starts right after the Civil War, and follows the development of three of the most iconic brands in the world: Coca Cola, Heinz, and Kellogg's (along with the early rivalry with Post, and how that started).

Best of all, you can play the episodes back from the website.

 

[garlichead]

Procter & Gamble's Crisco is pretty fascinating. Not sure if it's in this doc, just thought I'd mention that.

 

[caseydog]

I bet they do a segment on Bird's Eye. IIRC, they invented the process of flash freezing vegetables, which really changed things. Suddenly, you could have vegetables out of season that were not "fresh," but not bad, either.

CD

 

[pocofan]

I really like this program. Not all are great. Some are very interesting.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I've been watching episodes of this show. Found it to be pretty interesting. Another new ep will air on Sunday.