Nothing is off the table.
Decades - previous bread boodle . Cola manufacturer wars . Hypermasculine cheeseburger commercials . The fashion Americans have been make , selling , and consuming our favorite food for thought have a complicated and absorbing account as quondam as our nation itself — and sometimes sometime . As connoisseurs of the weird and the wonderful when it comes to cuisine , Thrillist has long been fascinate with every aspect of what makes our life delightful . The new Thrillist - produced seriesMessy story of American Food , come to discovery+ on May 11 , is an examination and celebration of the origin of everything from staff of life to cereal to chocolate , and nothing is off the mesa .
You might not realize exactly how much history lives inside the beigel you get at your corner store every morning , or the can of Coke you surreptitiously pour down unresolved when you need an afternoon caffeine kick . With episodes focalize on food items as innocuous and broad as " Bread " and " Burgers,“Messy chronicle of American Foodtakes a deep dive into the over-the-top details about the stuff we eat every day — or , in the case of " Wings , " the poppycock no Super Bowl party is complete without . Did you love there ’s a bakeshop in San Francisco that uses a sourdough freshman from the 1800s ? Or that Coke was n’t the only carbonate soda drink that used to be laced with , erm , suspicious substances ? The show presents these factoids with a combination of archival footage intercut between interview with chocolatiers , tonic enthusiast , and Thrillist ’s own food expert to give you the test - down on all the mussy details .
But , because the show is attached to honestness , it ’s not all fun and games . Messy Historytakes care not to gloss over the dingy details , such as the origins of Native American fry bread , which was originally fudge using extremely unhealthy mould - off ingredient they were given after European settler prompt their tribes to reservations and annexed their hunting solid ground . There ’s really no way to explore the whole history of something as multifaceted as the food we eat without facing the reality of why it is the way that it is , and that willingness not to shy away from those stories have for a far richer experience .
There ’s an unmistakable — and timely — theme running though many of the episodes of the show : mainly how most of the food detail we take for granted as everyday element of our own life are the product of immigrants . Most thing we think of as strictly " American " are hardly that at all . Polish Jews brought bagels to New York City . Korean restaurants have created their own take on chicken wings . Sourdough come in from the Mexicans who traveled up to California for the Gold Rush . Everything we have follow from somewhere else , and carries with it many generations ' worth of social complexity and innovations .
Messy History of American Foodbrings all that to the bow and more , and , with its half - hour episodes , gives a light but thorough investigation of the subjects in each of its installments . You ’ll learn why Hershey ’s deep brown tastes the way that it does , why " sliced cabbage " was such an worldly concern - shatter invention , and why exactly so many burger Sir Ernst Boris Chain decided that the full manner to commercialise their product was to film supermodels eating them while wash cars . That bowlful of cereal you have every morning ? You ’ll never look at it the same way again .
