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Is anyone watching the food that built America? I've seen about 10 of them. Didn't realize it's from 2019.
The last was Heinz verses Campbells. Campbells was a struggling preserve and condiment company when a guy bought it from Campbells. Then the new owners nephew scientist signed on and thought to condense soup to serve to Americans who didn't eat much soup because it was too expensive. It was his time studying in Europe where he ate a lot of soup that gave him the idea to bring to his uncle. Henry Heinz did sell a tomato soup that was expensive because it had water in it. Taking the water out made it that much cheaper.
At one point, Henry Heinz also had a scientist relative who signed on who wanted to learn how to condense soup too. Campbells nephew had gone back to Europe to actually learn how to cook in order to figure out how to keep the flavor with taking out the water. Even though Heinz did learn how to do it, Campbells put out more products and did major advertising to gain the market.
The ending seemed like it was rushed. They didn't actually show how he came up with soups like chicken and vegetable noodle. It only showed the ads if I remember right.
Heinz was the 1st factory that installed electric. He used to give tours. Campbells nephew took one of them.
You can watch full episodes at the link. They probably have an app too.
For generations of Americans, food entrepreneurs like James Kraft, Milton Hershey, the Swanson family, and the McDonald brothers have literally been household names, but you don’t know their stories. Before they were brands, they were brilliant, sometimes ruthless visionaries who revolutionized food and changed the landscape of America forever. This series turns the lens on an iconic selection of bold pioneers behind such iconic foods as Oreo, Cheetos, pizza, and more.
Is anyone watching the food that built America? I've seen about 10 of them. Didn't realize it's from 2019.
I haven't watched the soup one yet, but I am enjoying the series. I certainly didn't know the history behind Nabisco, especially Hydrox vs Oreo. Many of the shows have shown how true "necessity is the mother of invention", where the company founders basically decided they needed to invent/develop "X" to be successful, and they did.
They can sometimes be overly dramatic in some of the reenactments.
I haven't watched the soup one yet, but I am enjoying the series. I certainly didn't know the history behind Nabisco, especially Hydrox vs Oreo. Many of the shows have shown how true "necessity is the mother of invention", where the company founders basically decided they needed to invent/develop "X" to be successful, and they did.
They can sometimes be overly dramatic in some of the reenactments.
It's amazing that it was the hydrox that started filled cookies but the oreo won out!
Some of them were pretty evil, beating employees.
I think you'll enjoy the soup one, especially because of the nephew. It's very interesting how he put his own money up to rent the chemistry equipment, his paycheck didn't even cover the rental of them, then he paid to go back to Europe for cooking school just to help his uncle out. He pushed himself on the uncle too to have a chemistry department. The uncle didn't think they needed one lol
I do wonder how the founder of Campbells felt about what became of his company and family name.
Yes, so far I only saw 2 (soup and pizza), thought both were interesting, it was only after a while that they had thicker cardboard boxes for pizza, good to keep them hot when transporting etc. I taped the soda one and will watch that soon (and probably some others). Was also totally unaware of the shows til someone mentioned it in passing.
I watched that series too and loved it. I was impressed how the pioneers of these great food companies took big chances but they had a vision and they went and did it.. the one guy even was clever and got his brother to basically give the rights to his company over to him. I think it was the Kelloggs family. Little did they know how their brands have now gotten so big!
It was disgusting how food was sold back then, and it was rotten.. thats why Heinz ketchup was made, to hide the taste of green rotten meat.. how in the world did anyone survive it? I know the people back then had a lot of stomach problems - from rotten food. Good thing for the FDA that helped this situation.. ewww green rotten meat sold to people.
Cool about learning about Coke! I'm guessing that we today are ingesting a tiny bit of cocaine or some derivative of it, because the coca leaf is in Coke, right?
Cool that the one guy used electricity when it was first discovered, and took the huge chance of powering his whole factory with it when it was a new technology.
I watched that series too and loved it. I was impressed how the pioneers of these great food companies took big chances but they had a vision and they went and did it.. the one guy even was clever and got his brother to basically give the rights to his company over to him. I think it was the Kelloggs family. Little did they know how their brands have now gotten so big!
It was disgusting how food was sold back then, and it was rotten.. thats why Heinz ketchup was made, to hide the taste of green rotten meat.. how in the world did anyone survive it? I know the people back then had a lot of stomach problems - from rotten food. Good thing for the FDA that helped this situation.. ewww green rotten meat sold to people.
Cool about learning about Coke! I'm guessing that we today are ingesting a tiny bit of cocaine or some derivative of it, because the coca leaf is in Coke, right?
Cool that the one guy used electricity when it was first discovered, and took the huge chance of powering his whole factory with it when it was a new technology.
A few of these stories are also on the podcast "Business Wars." They did the Kellogg's story and Dr. John Kellogg wasn't interested in developing the commercial business that WK Kellogg wanted. Let's be glad as Dr. Kellogg went on to become a co-founder of the Race Betterment Foundation. He proposed a "eugenics registry", discouraged race mixing, and helped pass a Michigan law to sterilize the "mentally deficient."
This is a very cool series. I haven't watched them all yet, but I will.
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