The Food That Built America

Two heavy-hitting cereal rivals duke it out for breakfast dominance; competition heats up when an idea is stolen; the ensuing battle transforms the breakfast landscape from a labor-intensive meal at the table to a meal of convenience on the go.

The top-selling candy days of the year revolve around Easter, Valentine's Day, and Halloween. And it all started with a few bold pioneers. 

Before chicken wings were America's favorite Sunday football snack, they were considered an undesirable cut of meat. Until two restaurateurs in Buffalo, New York, reinvent the way wings are cooked. 

A cereal executive's bold idea to finance the "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" movie will kick-off a candy revolution that produces some of the most iconic, imaginative confections in history.

Two icons compete for America's coffee drinkers and forever change a worldwide, multi-billion-dollar industry.

Eventually challenging America's burger joint heavyweights, two future fast-food kingpins find themselves on a collision course in an all-out chicken sandwich war that is still raging to this day.

Four intrepid food entrepreneurs race to harness emerging technologies like the home freezer and microwave, to bring revolutionary frozen snack icons to a waiting world, and forever change what we eat, when we eat, and how we eat.

A look at some staples of Thanksgiving dinner that weren't around until a few brands used technological advances to reinvent turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and more; food innovators made each part of the meal accessible. 

When an entrepreneur creates shelf-stable peanut butter out of his garage, it leads to the birth of an iconic sandwich; as competition heats up to be America's favorite peanut butter, three famous brands battle it out to be number one. 

Two entrepreneurs rise from the ashes of Prohibition by staking everything on two liquors - a bitter, bottom-shelf whisky, and a flavorless foreign moonshine - and go on to save an industry and create two of the most popular brands in the country. 

Lighting up the backyard grill is an American summer tradition like no other. But 100 years ago, cooking outside was not nearly as popular or accessible. Most backyard grilling essentials hadn't been invented yet, and many people didn't even have backyards, while the hot dogs we know, and love were still relatively unknown in the marketplace. It would take industry titan Henry Ford, one relentless tinkerer named Kingsford, and a passionate butcher from the Oscar Mayer family to create the most iconic brands of the Summer and change the face of American backyards forever.

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.

At the turn of the 20th century, Bernard Kroger and another upstart grocer come up with genius innovations that help invent the modern supermarket.

A young upstart named Oscar Mayer creates one of the most iconic meat brands on the planet; pioneer Jay Hormel invents a meat product sold the world over, which becomes part of a $20 billion food empire.

At a time when dog food is a rarity and cat food is almost nonexistent, it will take visionary innovators to invent the first dog treat, the first dry dog food, the first cat food, and many more innovations that will carve out the billion-dollar pet food industry, and solidify dogs and cats as part of the American family.

At a time when U.S. beer is dominated by the same lager style, one Milwaukee company experiments with something new. What starts as an unappealing low-calorie beer will become the number one beer in America, and a battle between two all-time titans to be the king of light beer.