Eating History

Last updated

Eating History is an American docuseries that airs on the History Channel and premiered in 2020. [1] [2] In the series, collectors Josh Macuga and Gary "Old Smokey" Mitchell try vintage foods and related products, such as 1970s Fritos, 1913 hardtack, Pepsodent tooth powder, and New Coke. [1] [2]

Contents

Cast and crew

Hosts Gary Mitchell and Josh Macuga met through YouTube. [3] [4]

Gary Mitchell became interested in vintage foods via tobacco: he collected and smoked old cigarettes and other tobacco-related products, giving him the nickname "Old Smokey". [2] This, together with his interest in his grandfather's time in the military, led to eating preserved vintage military rations. [2] [5] He started trying a variety of military rations from different countries and time periods and made YouTube videos about it. [2] Through this interest, he met Ken Conley, who suggested that he might be interested in hosting Eating History when the series was being developed. [2]

Josh Macuga began collecting old food because of his family: when he was a child, his father and his uncle collected old bottles and other containers. [1] Like Mitchell, he has a YouTube channel. [3]

The production team includes a medic and a toxicologist, who do not allow the stars to eat foods that they deem unsafe, for example because of the risk of botulism. [1] The series is produced by Sharp Entertainment. [6]

Episodes

The series has one season consisting of ten episodes. [7]

No.TitleOriginal air dateU.S. viewers
(millions)
1"Brush with History"March 25, 2020 (2020-03-25)N/A
2"Breakfast of Champions"March 25, 2020 (2020-03-25)N/A
3"Expiration Unknown"April 1, 2020 (2020-04-01)N/A
4"Apocalypse Chow"April 1, 2020 (2020-04-01)N/A
5"Once You Pop"April 8, 2020 (2020-04-08)N/A
6"From a Galaxy Far, Far Away"April 8, 2020 (2020-04-08)N/A
7"A Space Odyssey"April 15, 2020 (2020-04-15)N/A
8"The Candy Man"April 22, 2020 (2020-04-22)N/A
9"Leave it to Beaver Tail"April 29, 2020 (2020-04-29)N/A
10"Flavor Explosion"May 6, 2020 (2020-05-06)N/A

Reception

Some viewers have described Eating History's premise as a gimmick, but Mitchell says that the series also educates viewers: "There’s so much history behind everything we encounter." [3] [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meal, Ready-to-Eat</span> U.S. military individual field ration

The Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) is a self-contained individual United States military ration used by the United States Armed Forces and Department of Defense. It is intended for use by American service members in combat or field conditions where other food is not available. MREs have also been distributed to civilians as humanitarian daily rations during natural disasters and wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smokey Bear</span> U.S. Forest Service mascot used to raise awareness about wildfires

Smokey Bear is an American campaign and advertising icon of the U.S. Forest Service in the Wildfire Prevention Campaign, which is the longest-running public service announcement campaign in United States history. The Ad Council, the Forest Service, and the National Association of State Foresters, in partnership with creative agency FCB, employ Smokey Bear to educate the public about the dangers of unplanned human-caused wildfires.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alton Brown</span> American food show presenter, chef, author, cinematographer, and musician

Alton Crawford Brown Jr. is an American television personality, food show presenter, food scientist, author, voice actor, and cinematographer. He is the creator and host of the Food Network television show Good Eats that ran for 16 seasons, host of the miniseries Feasting on Asphalt and Feasting on Waves, and host and main commentator on Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen. Brown is a best-selling author of several books on food and cooking. A recap series titled Good Eats Reloaded aired on Cooking Channel, and a true sequel series, Good Eats: The Return, ran from 2019 to 2021 on Food Network.

Post Consumer Brands is an American consumer packaged goods food manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States military ration</span> U.S. military food and field meals

United States military ration refers to the military rations provided to sustain United States Armed Forces service members, including field rations and garrison rations, and the military nutrition research conducted in relation to military food. U.S. military rations are often made for quick distribution, preparation, and eating in the field and tend to have long storage times in adverse conditions due to being thickly packaged or shelf-stable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregg Wallace</span> English broadcaster, entrepreneur and writer (born 1964)

Gregg Allan Wallace is an English broadcaster, entrepreneur and writer. He is known for co-presenting MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals on BBC One and BBC Two. He has written regularly for Good Food, Now and Olive magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military rations</span> Goods, usually food, given to military personnel

Military rations, operational rations, or military provisions are goods issued to sustain the needs of military personnel. As their name suggests, military rations have historically been, and often still are, subject to rationing, with each individual receiving specific amounts from available supplies. Military-issued goods and the rationing of such goods has existed since the beginnings of organized warfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doug Brochu</span> American actor, comedian and voice actor

Douglas Mark Brochu is an American actor, comedian and producer. He is best known as Grady Mitchell in the Disney Channel Original Series, Sonny with a Chance and So Random!. Doug has an older brother, Chris Brochu, who is notable for his role as Ray Beech in the Disney Channel Original Movie Lemonade Mouth.

Gary: Tank Commander is a BAFTA award-winning Scottish sitcom, written and created by Greg McHugh, and produced by the Comedy Unit. The show originated in 2008 as a one-off pilot for More4, under the title Gary's War. A full series was subsequently commissioned and broadcast on BBC Two Scotland in December 2009, with the programme moving to BBC One Scotland for the second series in January 2011. Originally broadcast in Scotland only, in the summer of 2011 the series received a UK-wide screening on BBC Three.

Epic Meal Time is a Canadian YouTube cooking show known for creating extremely high-calorie meals, generally out of meat products and including alcohol. It debuted in October 2010, and since then has started to release an episode every Tuesday. It is hosted by Harley Morenstein and a group of his friends. They are now represented by The Gersh Agency and Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, and have signed with multi-channel network Collective Digital Studio. Epic Meal Time won the 2011 Shorty Award in the Food Category.

<i>Good Mythical Morning</i> American comedy, talk, and variety YouTube series

Good Mythical Morning is an American comedy, talk and variety YouTube series created by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal. The series stars Rhett & Link, and features the voice of Stevie Wynne Levine. The show first aired on YouTube on January 9, 2012, and continues to be uploaded every weekday during the seasons. As of January 2024, the show has twenty-five regular seasons and five summer seasons, one being part of season 11 and four being standalone seasons. The YouTube channel has over 18.6 million subscribers and more than 9 billion total video views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mukbang</span> Online broadcast involving eating

A mukbang, also called eating show, is an online audiovisual broadcast in which a host consumes various quantities of food while interacting with the audience. The genre became popular in South Korea in the early 2010s, and has become a global trend since the mid-2010s. Varieties of foods ranging from pizza to noodles are consumed in front of a camera. The purpose of mukbang is also sometimes educational, introducing viewers to regional specialties or gourmet spots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MatPat</span> American YouTuber (born 1986)

Matthew Robert Patrick, better known as MatPat, is an American semi-retired YouTuber and internet personality. He is the creator and former host of the YouTube series Game Theorists, and its spin-off series Film Theorists, Food Theorists, and Style Theorists, each analyzing various video games, films alongside TV series and web series, food, and fashion respectively. Each of the different series are posted on individual channels, each named after the respective series. In addition to the creation of his channels, Patrick narrated the majority of the videos that are presented on his channels prior to his retirement on March 9, 2024.

John Jurasek, better known online as Reviewbrah, is an American YouTube personality, food critic and radio host. Jurasek reviews fast food, frozen meals, and energy drinks on his YouTube channel TheReportOfTheWeek, and hosts a radio show on shortwave radio, Spotify, TuneIn, and SoundCloud.

The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced during the forty-third season of SNL, which began on September 30, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MrBeast</span> American YouTuber and philanthropist (born 1998)

James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson, better known by his online alias MrBeast, is an American YouTuber, online personality, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for his fast-paced and high-production videos, which feature elaborate challenges and large giveaways. With over 282 million subscribers, he is the most-subscribed channel on YouTube.

Steven Thomas, known online as Steve1989MREInfo, is an American YouTuber and military history commentator, best known for his YouTube video content in which he unboxes and eats military rations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Saffitz</span> American pastry chef and video host

Claire Saffitz is an American food writer, chef, and YouTube personality. Until mid-2020, she was a contributing editor at Bon Appétit magazine and starred in several series on the Bon Appétit YouTube channel, including Gourmet Makes, in which she created gourmet versions of popular snack foods by reverse engineering them. Since leaving the company, she has published two cookbooks, Dessert Person and What's for Dessert, which both became New York Times Best Sellers. She has continued work as a video host on her own YouTube channel and as a freelance recipe developer, including for New York Times Cooking.

Nicholas Perry, known online as Nikocado Avocado, is a Ukrainian-born American internet celebrity and YouTuber known for his mukbang videos on YouTube. As of January 2024, he has accumulated more than 8.6 million subscribers and approximately 2.5 billion total views across six YouTube channels. His fictional character is known for his comedic and theatrical performances, gaining excess weight on camera and generating over 10 billion views on TikTok.

Andrew Douglas Rea, also known by the pseudonym Babish, is an American YouTuber, cook, and author. He is best known for founding the YouTube channel Babish Culinary Universe and for creating and presenting its shows Binging with Babish and Basics with Babish. Rea has authored three cookbooks based on the series and has appeared as a guest in several other programs.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Josh Macuga dares to munch old food in Eating History". ocanada. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lynch, Bill. "WV man taking a bite out of history -- literally". Charleston Gazette-Mail. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 Moore, Camille (24 April 2020). "10 Things You Didn't Know about Eating History". TVOvermind. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  4. Neale, April (25 March 2020). "Eating History Josh Macuga interview exclusive, why foods of yesteryear fascinate us all". Monsters and Critics. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  5. "Old Smokey – Eating History Cast | HISTORY Channel". The HISTORY Channel. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  6. "A+E Networks". www.aenetworks.com. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  7. "Eating History". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  8. Stezano, Martin. "Chewing the Fat with Eating History's Josh and Old Smokey". The HISTORY Channel. Retrieved 7 April 2022.