As a girl, my favorite Mister Rogers’ episode was when he went to the crayon factory. I was mesmerized by those machines pumping out perfect symmetrical tubes of color. The Food Network program Unwrapped gives me the same thrill: It’s an entire show dedicated to visiting the factories of different food companies to see how mass-produced products are made, and it’s full of “Oh, that’s how they do that” moments. Unwrapped delves into the technology, engineering, and crazy chemistry behind America’s favorite junk foods, though I could do without some of the useless knowledge, like the fact that it takes five days to make a gumball. One of the best episodes is about cereal, in which they explain the history of Lucky Charms, created by combining Cheerios and diced orange circus peanuts.
Unwrapped airs on the Food Network. Check your local listings.
The crayon episode was always my favorite too.
My three must watch FN shows are Good Eats, Unwrapped, and the Secret Life of…
I too loved the crayon episode.
Unwrapped has always been one of my favorites, but they don’t go into too much detail of what things are really made of…
Wired Magaine does a What’s Inside section each month. It’s not always about food, but here is one on the PowerBar protein bar – http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-02/st_powerbar
Now that I know the secret, I can make my own “Lucky Charms” at home!
Muhahahaha
Unwrapped is a great show. I love all of the behind the scene action. It is cool to see how some of your favorite foods are made.
Unwrapped is the lamest show on the FN, next to Diners, Drivers and something….Can there me a more annoying host than that man? How many candy bars and other processed junk food can you watch being squeezed out of machines. That show is just one long ad for crappy, junk food.