Episode
The Food That Built America: The Birth of Bubblegum
Overview
A struggling candy maker’s botched experiment leads to the world’s first bubble gum, its distinctive color, and a decades-long bubble gum war fueled by colorful mascots, comic strips, baseball cards, and novelty flavors — transforming gum into a pop culture.
Details
- Series
- The Food That Built America
- Season
- Season 7
- Episode
- Episode 3
- Air date
- 2026-05-03
- Runtime
- 42 min
Episode context
The Birth of Bubblegum is Episode 3 in Season 7 of The Food That Built America. It aired on 2026-05-03. The runtime is 42 min.
Previous / Next
Episode 2: Cereal Killers
Rival cereal giants race to invent the next must-have bowl, sparking a sugary arms race of mascots, crunch, candy, and the first ever chocolate cereal.
Episode 4: Drive-Thru Burger Revolution
Three burger operators race to serve a new generation on wheels, and a primitive intercom and sliding window evolve into the drive-thru — revolutionizing fast food and kicking off an industry arms race.
More episodes from this season
Episode 1: Pizza Power Play
Two pizza juggernauts expand their empires as a hungry new contender turns the fight into a three-way race to become America’s biggest pizza chain.
Episode 5: Chocolate in a Glass
A chemist unlocks a chocolate syrup that transforms milk into a magic sensation, a scrappy soda shop owner cracks the code to bottling liquid chocolate for the masses, and a dairy innovator turns wartime surplus into instant cocoa gold.
Episode 6: Clash of the Cookie Giants
A century ago, the cookie industry didn't exist, until a wave of innovators turn it into a $15 billion powerhouse.
Episode 7: Cheesecake Chronicles
A struggling cheesemaker, a New York restauranteur, a small-time baker, and a determined mother-son duo transform a humble cheese pie into a decadent American dessert--turning cheesecake into a grocery staple and the star of a restaurant empire.
Episode 8: Rice to Riches
A keen-eyed immigrant, a candy mogul, and two pasta-making brothers reinvent rice for America’s kitchens by making it faster, easier, and impossible to resist.
Episode 9: Burgers, Burritos, & the Battle for Fast Food
Episode 10: Icons of Ice Cream
Episode 11: Spilling the Tea
Episode 12: Let's Get Crackering
Episode 13: Cereal Sensations