Episodes

  • From HISTORY This Week: America’s Restaurants Meet the Michelin Man

    From HISTORY This Week: America’s Restaurants Meet the Michelin Man
    Feb 17 2025

    Find HISTORY This Week wherever you listen to podcasts!


    February 23, 2005. New York City's culinary elite gather at Gotham Hall. Tuxedoed waiters pass around champagne flutes and decadent hors d'oeuvres, as famous chefs like Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain pose for photos and gossip with their peers before the night’s main event: an announcement that could change their lives and the fate of America's dining scene.


    Édouard Michelin takes the stage. His company, Michelin, is one of the world's largest manufacturers of tires, but they also produce a restaurant guide that has dictated the fortunes of European restaurants for over 100 years. Now, the Michelin Guide, and its coveted stars, will be coming to America.


    When Michelin descends on New York City, which restaurants win? Which lose? And how does the battle itself transform American food culture?


    Special thanks to Peter Esmond, the former general manager of Per Se and current sales leader at DoorDash; Eric Ripert, chef of Le Bernardin in New York City; and Kathleen Squires, a food and travel writer whose work appears in the Wall Street Journal, Conde Nast Traveler and more.


    To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com


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    28 mins
  • From HISTORY This Week: Nixon Does Whatever It Takes to Win in ’68

    From HISTORY This Week: Nixon Does Whatever It Takes to Win in ’68
    Sep 16 2024

    This is a brand-new episode from HISTORY This Week, available wherever you listen to podcasts!


    September 16, 1968. Richard Nixon isn't exactly seen as a comedian. But tonight, he's trying to change that by appearing on Laugh-In, a TV show similar to Saturday Night Live. Nixon needs every vote he can get in the 1968 election, facing off against Hubert Humphrey, the vice president who became the Democratic nominee after Lyndon Johnson withdrew from the ticket.


    Nixon's Laugh-In appearance is a surprise, but soon, he'll pull off a move that no one would ever expect. How did back-channel dealings, unattended teleprompters, and Oval Office shouting matches turn this election into an all-time drama? And what do recently uncovered conversations reveal about how far Nixon was willing to go to secure victory?


    Special thanks to David Farber, professor of history at the University of Kansas and author of Chicago ‘68; Lawrence O’Donnell, host of The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC and author of Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics; and Luke Nichter, professor of history at Chapman University and author of The Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968.


    To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    35 mins
  • HISTORY This Week is returning this Monday, 9/16!

    HISTORY This Week is returning this Monday, 9/16!
    Sep 12 2024

    HISTORY This week is about to return! We'll be back with new episodes this Monday, September 16th. In the meantime, listen to our trailer for Season 5, and follow HISTORY This Week wherever you get your podcasts.


    To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 min
  • Taco Bell

    Taco Bell
    Jul 13 2022
    In the mid-50s, a San Bernardino man named Glen Bell is fixated on McDonald’s. His own burger stand is in shambles, and he’s trying to bounce back. When he looks around, though, he realizes Mexican food is gaining popularity, but that most Americans are afraid of anything that strays from their bland palettes. That’s when he realizes: A taco is really a burger in a shell. With a few fits and starts, Taco Bell is born.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    26 mins
  • Pop Stars

    Pop Stars
    Jul 6 2022

    Popcorn may very well be the oldest snack food on the planet, but for much of its modern history it was something to be consumed in movie theaters or at fairgrounds - not at home. No truly national brand existed and it was far from the convenient snack it is today. But in the 1950s, Orville Redenbacher believed science could launch popcorn forward, making him a household name. His thousands of hybridizing experiments innovated popcorn down to its genetic code, resulting in a more flavorful pop twice the size of anything the world had seen before. 



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    22 mins
  • Let Them Eat Snack Cake

    Let Them Eat Snack Cake
    Jun 29 2022
    Nowadays, grocery stores and gas stations are filled with Little Debbie products. In the 1950s, though, snack cakes were just gaining popularity, when a Chattanooga couple took a risk, scrapping big pies in favor of debut snack cakes instead. their company, Little Debbie, now dominates 54% of the snack cake industry with over $890 million in sales.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    23 mins
  • Cookie Fortunes

    Cookie Fortunes
    Jun 22 2022
    In the mid 1970s, a woman who wants to be more than just a housewife, is tired of living in her husband’s shadow. Armed with her phenomenal cookies, Debbi Fields seeks out an unlikely spot for her unlikely business - a cookie shop named Mrs. Fields in a shopping mall...run by a woman with no experience. With her husband’s credit on the line, she starts her journey to build a $450 million dollar cookie juggernaut.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    23 mins
  • Chain Reaction

    Chain Reaction
    Jun 15 2022
    In the mid-60s, a single perfume salesman finds himself struggling to meet women to date. So, he goes to the bar to complain to the bartender about his predicament. That’s when the salesman has an idea: What if you made your own co-ed bar? What ensues is a quest to make bars coed and fun, and TGI Fridays is born, revolutionizing the idea of sit-down dining and bar culture. Now, the business has 303 locations in the United States.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    36 mins