- 7 hours ago
Think you know your favorite snacks? Adam Richman digs into the jaw-dropping stories of the food pioneers who changed what America eats.
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00:00There are so many famous foods that we all know and love, but we might not know why or
00:06how those foods got to be so iconic.
00:08So now we are sitting down with the host of The Foods That Builds America, Adam Richman.
00:12Thank you so much for being here.
00:13Thank you so much for having me.
00:15Yes, this is so exciting.
00:16It's such an incredible show.
00:17I was just watching some of it last night.
00:18It's amazing.
00:19Thank you so much.
00:19And this is exciting for me just being here as someone who doesn't work in finance.
00:24This is like the inner sanctum, so this is a really cool opportunity for me too.
00:28It's great.
00:29Well, we're so happy to have you.
00:30We're so excited to talk about this.
00:31So for people who haven't seen the show, tell us a little bit about it and what makes it so
00:35unique.
00:35Okay, so the simple snapshot is that it's the real human behind-the-scenes origin stories
00:41of the brands that you already know, already love, already have a connection to.
00:46So as much as people like now, there's over 180 traded food companies on this very exchange,
00:54but behind HSY was Henry Hines.
00:58Behind, you know, Kraft, there was James Kraft.
01:02So the idea of, you know, the actual intrigue, you know, there are brands that are juggernauts
01:09that have like mega caps in the market that actually started with one individual, a really
01:14clever creative decision one night, you know, somewhere in Kansas or Michigan.
01:20And here we are now with these like juggernauts that have changed our lives, American economy
01:26and you name it.
01:27Yeah.
01:27It's so exciting to think about these brands.
01:29We all have these different foods, different brands that we know and love.
01:33Why do you think that it captivates people so much?
01:36Because people love this show.
01:37Why does it really like grab them and speak to them?
01:39I think that's a great question.
01:40I think everyone like how it feels a sense of ownership, like whatever your favorite brand
01:45of peanut butter is, whether it's Jeff or Skippy or Peter Pan, you have a connection to it.
01:50So when they talk about your brand, it's sort of like, oh, I didn't know that about it.
01:56Or let's explain why it's better.
01:57Or I didn't realize that Pizza Hut is called Pizza Hut because the Carney brothers leveraged
02:03every penny they had.
02:05And the only sign they could afford was a premium from Coca-Cola that had space for nine letters,
02:10five of which had to be pizza, one of which had to be a space, which left three.
02:15So it was like pizza pit.
02:17And then they ultimately went with Pizza Hut because of the shape of the roof.
02:20So the idea that now it's this multi-billion dollar company or that Heinz was such a failure
02:27that he had leveraged his in-laws furniture, and now it's traded under HSY on the very floor
02:32I'm sitting on.
02:34That's a really cool thing.
02:35And it's inspirational.
02:36And you get those really cool party facts like the Pizza Hut thing too.
02:40It's so interesting.
02:40I didn't know that.
02:41So it's so interesting.
02:42And I feel like every episode, you just learn so much.
02:44I just watched the one about the food courts and malls, which again, we've all obviously
02:49been to so many times.
02:50I never thought about it.
02:51I kind of thought, well, these have been around forever because how could they not have been?
02:54Absolutely.
02:55And even when you talk about that episode, I went to the original Auntie Anne's at the
03:00mall in Lancaster, PA, and you have to remember now, this was not a time when a woman could
03:06be an entrepreneur, could have a food business, and the manager of the food court didn't want
03:12her anywhere near the food court.
03:14A woman, and you're going to sell pretzels?
03:16You could be by the parking lot.
03:18But then all of a sudden, people start, you know the Auntie Anne's vibe?
03:22You smell that, it's like, oh my God.
03:25It's like that Pepe Le Pew, like the smoke pulling you over.
03:28And then the guy who ran the mall ended up buying two franchises.
03:31So that's what I mean.
03:33Like you go to the first Panda Express in Glendale, or you go to the first Auntie Anne's.
03:37There is a historical context that you go, wow, I have so many memories connected with
03:42this brand that I get to feel the sense of ownership, you know, oh, they're more like
03:48me than I thought.
03:49You know, maybe there's a chance for me to build the next fill in the blank.
03:52Yeah, it's so true.
03:53I mean, you're talking about the first woman who was able to do this in that way.
03:57Tell me a little bit more about the non-food side of it, right?
04:01Because we're learning so much about history and women and different types of people.
04:05And even with the Panda Express story with him bringing Chinese food.
04:10Absolutely.
04:10So tell us about, a little bit more about the kind of historical kind of context that
04:14you get that's not really just the food part.
04:16Well, that's the thing that's so cool about it being done in history.
04:18First of all, you have these really well acted cinematic reenactments.
04:23Because it would be a snooze fest if it was like the AV squad wheels in the TV.
04:28I will sign the Declaration of Independence.
04:31Like, all right.
04:32But instead, you make it real and vital.
04:35So the thing is, for example, World War II happens.
04:39Herman Leigh sees that there's a surplus of powdered cheese.
04:42They find a way to extrude corn and to puff it up.
04:45Let's toss these corn puffs in powdered cheese.
04:49And the cheese doodle is born.
04:51And this whole subcategory of food is born.
04:54Or someone with experience using CB radios and walkie talkies in World War II says,
05:00Wait a minute.
05:01If I put this inside a clown's head, suddenly people can order from their cars, you know?
05:07And there's big moments in history.
05:08The Reagan administration says you could advertise directly to children.
05:13Things change.
05:14The advent of television.
05:15Then you look at the fact that most of these big corporations operate, you know, with real
05:20economies of scale, that when you look at Nabisco, I didn't realize until I was doing the research,
05:25it was a portmanteau of National Biscuit Company.
05:28Yeah.
05:29And it was this exercise in monopsony and collective bargaining and finding a way to bring all these
05:35things in, like my stepmom liked Fig Newtons.
05:38I didn't realize it was a bakery from Newton, Massachusetts, and that was just the fig variety
05:43of that cookie, and they got subsumed into Nabisco.
05:46Wow.
05:46The Lorna Dune cookie.
05:48A couple in Chicago had a bakery.
05:50They were trying to teach their daughter how to play chess.
05:52They made shortbread cookies that looked like chess pieces.
05:55And the daughter's name, Lorna Dune.
05:56So, you have these really cool things like, oh, it's single parents, it's making the most
06:03of war surplus, it's making the most of your manufacturing abilities.
06:07Yeah, it's incredible.
06:08I mean, all of these origin stories, it makes me want to go back and watch all the episodes,
06:12and now watch all the episodes coming out, right?
06:14Because we now have the seventh season coming out.
06:15Hell yes.
06:16So, tell us, I don't know how much of that you can reveal, but tell us.
06:19Okay, yeah.
06:19Tell us, do you have any favorites that you're really excited about?
06:22Absolutely.
06:22First of all, straight up, I think we're in New York.
06:25You know, it's a city that runs on high coffee and stuff, but I think that a Yoohoo is the
06:30goaded bagel with schmear beverage.
06:33I think that people don't realize how good that is.
06:36It's approaching its 100th anniversary, but born 1928 in New Jersey by a first-generation
06:41immigrant who was making Italian soda syrups, realized, huh, people like chocolate drinks,
06:47but you could only get them at a soda fountain.
06:49Let's find a way to make that.
06:51So, getting a little bit into it, the fact that he named it off of his wife's favorite
06:55song that had a refrain that said, I'm in love with you.
07:00That's amazing.
07:01I'm a presenter, not a singer.
07:02You can understand why-
07:03I don't know.
07:03I think that was pretty good.
07:04Barely.
07:05I apologize to everyone at home if I broke your Alexa.
07:08But the thing is, so I love that there's a whole thing on crackers, on Ritz, on saltines.
07:14Big bubblegum guy.
07:15Mm-hmm.
07:16So, the fact that the story of Big Lee Chu is coming out and it involves Kurt Russell
07:21and a woman named Candy Field is where the first batch was made.
07:26And Candy Field's son went on to become the motion picture director, Todd Field.
07:31Oh, wow.
07:31From in the bedroom and tar and little children.
07:34Wow.
07:35But literally, the guy who created it was a pitcher for the Portland Mavericks.
07:40He saw this bat boy shredding licorice so he could be like a big leaguer.
07:45And he said, do you think we could do it with bubblegum?
07:48And Jim Bouton, the late pitcher from the Yankees who was there, was like, what did you call it?
07:52He said, I don't know, Big Lee Chu?
07:54So, you have these amazing stories and the birth of bubblegum, the birth of that smell, that taste,
08:00even the gum inside of baseball cards.
08:02So, we've got that, the rice, rice-a-roni, Uncle Ben's, minute rice.
08:07I think there's so many things that you go, man, I love that stuff.
08:11I didn't realize how much until I got a chance to see it again.
08:14Even drive-throughs, you know, we take it for granted.
08:17Lassie, when you think about the seventh season coming out now,
08:19what do you want viewers to take away from it?
08:21What do you hope they walk away after they get up from the TV and are left with?
08:26Two things.
08:27One, I want them to go, oh, now tell the story of X, whatever that is.
08:33Like, I, because, A, it's very beneficial to meet people where they are.
08:38Incidentally, I feel that's kind of what Cheddar does very well for someone like me,
08:41who invests, who's interested, but doesn't have deep expertise in this.
08:45But I want them to go, I want to know about bonkers, I want to know about smuckers, I want
08:53to know whatever.
08:53And the other thing is, I want them to kind of ask more of their foods, and I want them
09:01to get a little bit more into what they are buying.
09:05Just simply because now that, you know, Mondelez never appears in the show, but it's like, oh, they own Nestle,
09:15they have these other brands.
09:16So then you're going, oh, Ovaltine isn't owned by, it's Nestle here, but it's another company, you know, abroad.
09:24The idea of knowing what you're buying, knowing who you are buying from, knowing the sort of trajectory that it's
09:31come, and knowing the economy you're propping up.
09:33That's what I was just talking about, someone there like, you who?
09:36And I said, Natale Olivieri created this chocolate drink in New Jersey in 1928.
09:41Yeah, he created the drink, but he's created thousands of jobs.
09:45If you go to Rutt's Hut, the iconic hot dog spot in New Jersey, and you order a Marvis, they
09:51bring you a YouTube, why?
09:53Because the plant that made Marvis chocolate drink, and later Yoo-Hoo, was in Jersey, and it employed, so it's
09:59Jersey pride.
10:00So I want people to have civic pride, I want them to know what they're buying, I want them to
10:05know these inside stories,
10:06and I want their curiosity to come back to me and to the network on social and go, all right,
10:12now I've got to know about combos.
10:13How did they start stuffing cheese in pretzels?
10:15Because I'm a dork, and I want to know why they started putting cheese in pretzels.
10:19I know, that sounds interesting, now I want to know.
10:21Maybe that needs to be the eighth season.
10:23Well, like, for me, the fact that, like, string cheese, like, I played soccer, mom used to bring orange slices
10:27and string cheese.
10:28It's like the 11th commandment, like, thou shalt bring orange slices and string cheese to soccer.
10:33You have to, you have to.
10:34But that was in the original stuffed crust pizza.
10:36Oh, interesting.
10:36They tried all these formulas, but the density and the diameter of, I should watch my hand gestures,
10:42because this is going to be a very bad gif, but the idea of putting string cheese in this thing
10:48became the perfect stuffed crust pizza.
10:50Now, this thing that was waste, this thing that was a waste stream is now the most desirable part of
10:56the pizza.
10:57It's amazing.
10:58Well, it's incredible to think about all this.
10:59I'm so excited to watch the new season.
11:01Adam Richman, thank you so much for being here.
11:03I really appreciate it.
11:03Pleasure's entirely mine.
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