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The Best Episodes of The Food That Built America

Every episode of The Food That Built America ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Food That Built America!

The fascinating stories of the families behind the food that built America, those who used brains, muscle, blood, sweat and tears to get to America's...
Genre:Documentary
Network:History

Best Episodes Summary

"Champions of Breakfast" is the best rated episode of "The Food That Built America". It scored 8.5/10 based on 25 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 4/14/2024. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Cola Wars".

  • Champions of Breakfast
    8.5/1025 votes
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    #1 - 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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Cola Wars
    8.4/1099 votes
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    #2 - Cola Wars

    Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 3/7/2021

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Sunshine in a Glass
    8.4/1025 votes
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    #3 - Sunshine in a Glass

    Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 3/17/2024

    A scientist and businessman team up to develop a Vitamin C rich war ration for the troops fighting in World War 2, which unexpectedly leads to the development of a frozen concentrated orange juice that tastes great and allows for the widespread distribution of OJ for the first time in history. Soon after, a fruit salesman develops a process of flash pasteurizing fresh orange juice that turns the fledgling industry on its head. The two companies will go on to battle it out for domination.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Lunchbox Legends
    8.4/1020 votes
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    #4 - 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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Do or Donut
    8.3/1059 votes
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    #5 - Do or Donut

    Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 3/13/2022

    When a commercial caterer realizes his two best selling items are donuts and coffee, he joins forces with his brother-in-law to create a revolutionary donut chain; soon a rivalry starts with a beloved Southern-based donut shop.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Cookie Fortunes
    8.3/1053 votes
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    #6 - Cookie Fortunes

    Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 4/3/2022

    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 homestyle cookie shop in a mall.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Beef is On
    8.3/1058 votes
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    #7 - The Beef is On

    Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 4/10/2022

    When Col. Sanders sells his company to investors in 1964, the new owners identify a rising star within the organization: Dave Thomas.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Pasta Party
    8.3/1051 votes
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    #8 - Pasta Party

    Season 3 Episode 12 - Aired 5/15/2022

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Ice Cream Revolution
    8.3/1027 votes
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    #9 - 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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Spoils of War
    8.2/1087 votes
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    #10 - The Spoils of War

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 8/13/2019

    As the Great Depression hits, the titans of food push the envelope of innovation to feed a hungry nation. Then WWII sees competing industrial empires joining the war effort in a united front to fuel the forces fighting for freedom abroad. And in Post-War America, visionaries like Harland Sanders, the McDonald brothers and Ray Kroc battle to revolutionize the restaurant industry, and pave the way for the golden age of the American dream.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Chocolate Rush
    8.2/1091 votes
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    #11 - The Chocolate Rush

    Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 2/14/2021

    In 1919, Milton Hershey is king of the chocolate, but everything changes when sugar prices drop in the new post-WWI era. Competitors spring up, including Hershey's former employee HB Reese, who goes on to create one of the bestselling candies ever.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • American Cheese
    8.2/1089 votes
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    #12 - American Cheese

    Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 2/28/2021

    At the turn of the 20th century, James Kraft challenges centuries 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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Chip Dynasties
    8.2/1084 votes
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    #13 - Chip Dynasties

    Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 3/14/2021

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Submarine Warfare
    8.2/1070 votes
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    #14 - Submarine Warfare

    Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 2/27/2022

    High School friends see an alternative to fast food with the "submarine" sandwich. But they are quickly met with the fierce competition of a new submarine joint, started by a physicist, that is trying to perfect the art of the franchise, and will go on to be the biggest restaurant chain in the world.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • A Dish Best Served... Soft
    8.2/1056 votes
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    #15 - 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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Best Thing Since...
    8.2/1052 votes
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    #16 - The Best Thing Since...

    Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 3/27/2022

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Beyond the Burger
    8.2/1057 votes
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    #17 - Beyond the Burger

    Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 4/24/2022

    Restaurateur Glen Bell works to create a burger alternative for the fast-food market and after several setbacks goes on to help introduce the taco to America; two brothers look to beat the burger by betting that a roast beef sandwich can compete.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Chain Reaction
    8.2/1053 votes
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    #18 - Chain Reaction

    Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 5/1/2022

    Former wrestler Rocky Aoki and a perfume salesman become the unlikely fathers of a casual dining revolution when they open different establishments in the heart of New York City: one of America's first Japanese restaurants and a swinging singles bar.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Let Them Eat Snack Cakes
    8.2/1055 votes
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    #19 - Let Them Eat Snack Cakes

    Season 3 Episode 11 - Aired 5/8/2022

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Thirst Quenchers
    8.2/1038 votes
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    #20 - 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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Best Served Cold
    8.1/10110 votes
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    #21 - Best Served Cold

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 8/12/2019

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Kings of Burgers
    8.1/10106 votes
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    #22 - The Kings of Burgers

    Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 2/21/2021

    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."

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Cookie Wars
    8.1/1074 votes
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    #23 - 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 revolutionize packaging.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The TV Dinner
    8.1/1080 votes
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    #24 - The TV Dinner

    Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 4/11/2021

    Gilbert Swanson inherits his father's frozen turkey company and partners with a food chemist to innovate a revolutionary dinner that Americans can heat up at home... they call it the TV Dinner. And when a restauranteur named Vernon Stouffer tries to bring his frozen meals to market, he's blown out of the water by the TV Dinner... until he harnesses a new technology called...the microwave.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • A Game of Chicken
    8.1/1065 votes
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    #25 - A Game of Chicken

    Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 5/31/2021

    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. Smith re-engineers the emerging rival, using the best ideas of his former franchise to modernize the brand. In an unprecedented move, Ray Kroc brings on a world renowned chef to develop the chicken nugget, breakfast, and try to crush the would-be king once and for all.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A