NaN/100 votesLoading...#1 - Lines in the Sand
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 8/11/2019
In the wake of the Civil War, a revolution takes place on the backs of visionary entrepreneurs of industry like Heinz, Kellogg and Post; they push the limits of ingenuity to launch businesses that will revolutionize industry.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#2 - 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
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NaN/100 votesLoading...#3 - 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
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NaN/100 votesLoading...#4 - Pizza Wars
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 2/9/2021
In the 1950s, two brothers from Wichita, Kan., aim to build their restaurant, Pizza Hut, by introducing America to Italian dish-pizza. Americans soon fall in love with their pizza, but rival, Domino's, threatens to derail their success.
Director: N/A
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NaN/100 votesLoading...#5 - 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
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NaN/100 votesLoading...#6 - 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
NaN/100 votesLoading...#7 - 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
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NaN/100 votesLoading...#8 - 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
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NaN/100 votesLoading...#9 - 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
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NaN/100 votesLoading...#10 - 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
NaN/100 votesLoading...#11 - Soup Wars
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 3/28/2021
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 heart through its stomach, those who invented new technologies and helped win wars.
Director: N/A
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NaN/100 votesLoading...#12 - Godfathers of Fast Food
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 4/4/2021
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.
Director: N/A
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NaN/100 votesLoading...#13 - 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
NaN/100 votesLoading...#14 - Ice Cream Empires
Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 4/18/2021
A young boy accidentally discovers a frozen treat on a stick, and grows up to bring an endearing classic to the world. Plus, a candy store owner radically re-invents ice cream and launches the first ever ice cream truck. But when both men own a patent on the same thing, the resulting battle will destroy one man, and cement the other's fortune.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#15 - 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
NaN/100 votesLoading...#16 - When the Chips Are Down
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 6/6/2021
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#17 - The Rise of a Rival
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 6/13/2021
When candy company president Charles Guth gets shafted by a Cola salesman, he decides to buy a bankrupt rival company and go to war with the supplier who wronged him and its new CEO, the maverick businessman Robert Woodruff. The battle will help shape the world of soda for decades to come.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#18 - Gum Slingers
Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 6/20/2021
William Wrigley stumbles upon a new product that will kickstart a revolution across industries, but not before sparking a life-long rivalry.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#19 - 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. And the creation of an iconic food comes at a cost, as the brothers’ relationship reaches a boiling point under the weight of their success.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#20 - 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
NaN/100 votesLoading...#21 - A Cold One
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 3/6/2022
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, introduce lager beer to the nation, and become two of the biggest companies on Earth for half a century.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#22 - 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
NaN/100 votesLoading...#23 - 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
NaN/100 votesLoading...#24 - 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
NaN/100 votesLoading...#25 - 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 Worst Episodes of The Food That Built America
Every episode of The Food That Built America ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst 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
Worst Episodes Summary
"Lines in the Sand" is the worst rated episode of "The Food That Built America". It scored N/A/10 based on 0 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 8/11/2019. This episode scored NaN points lower than the second lowest rated, "Best Served Cold".