The Food That Built America Recap for 2/23/2025

-It is the season six premiere of The Food That Built America! Tonight, we are all about the chips and salsa!

-In 1947, American pantries were not what they were today. The war was over, and people were on a meat and potatoes diet, relying on ketchup for extra flavor. Little was known about other cuisines, especially Mexican food. While it was popular in some states, it was not known nationwide.

-In San Antonio, Texas, a young man decides to buy tacos at a local stand. He is offered salsa and decides to give it a try. This man is on the hunt for a new business venture and is inspired by this new delicacy. The man is David Pace and he would soon become the face of salsa. However, he first needs to figure out how to make it!

-David begins to experiment with recipes, hoping to imitate the salsa he tried at the stand and also come up with something his friends and family will enjoy. It also needs to be made so it could be jarred so it could last longer.

-He finally comes up with the perfect blend, which he and his wife enjoy. However, the jarring doesn’t go as planned, sending him back to the drawing board.

-Meanwhile, in California, Arch West has landed his dream job in food marketing, specifically for Frito-Lay. He goes to Casa de Fritos in Disneyland, which is a way to market the Frito-Lay products. As he is eating there, he is served a new kind of chip….the tortilla chip. This inspires him to invent a new kind of chip, which will change the company forever.

-Back in Dallas, Arch decides to pitch the idea of selling tortilla chips to his bosses. No one is really sold on the idea and shoot him down. Arch is not happy about this and tries to find a way to change their minds. He puts everything on the line and working on the chip on his own.

-In San Antonio, David is still working on his salsa and begins selling it locally as a marinade/sauce. He takes it around to restaurants to get the word out as well, but it isn’t selling the way he was hoping. He takes his son-in-law Kit Goldsbury under his wing to help him sell it.

-Kit begins working on the salsa and has trouble tolerating the jalapeño peppers.

-In Dallas, Arch begins working on his tortilla chips but can’t make him the same way he had them at Casa de Fritos. After three years, he thinks he has a winner and decides to present it to his bosses. It is a huge gamble, but Doritos become a huge hit with his bosses….and the world. They are released in 1966 and set the path for future tortilla chips.

-At first, they land a bit flat, so they add a bit of flavor to them to make it work, thanks to fellow worker Wayne Calloway. They decide to upgrade the Doritos by adding the cheese flavor, using science to make it work, gas chromatology, if you will.

-After a few experiments, Doritos come out with taco flavored chips. By now, Taco Bell is very popular and Mexican food is becoming popular. Despite the success, Arch wants MORE! He comes out with the nacho flavor as a nod to the popular cuisine. It would make the company even more successful and the chip to become one of the most popular of all time. Arch then becomes executive vice president of the company.

-Back in San Antonio, Kit and David are working on making their salsa more successful. Ironically, they are eating and loving Doritos, which inspires Kit to suggest making the salsa less spicy.

-Wayne, who is now CEO, is using Mexican food as inspiration for new chips. He notices dips like guacamole are popular, so he decides to make restaurant style tortilla chips….enter Tostitos! It is a huge hit worldwide and one of the most successful chips in the company’s history.

-Kit dips Doritos in their salsa and decides that they need to remove the heat to make the salsa a successful dip. He is now in charge of the company and works on perfecting the salsa recipe. It is hard to get people to agree on the spice level, since it is subjective.

-Little does he know that competition is on the horizon from Campbell’s, who came out with their own salsa. Not to be outdone, he works with an engineer to make the jalapeño less spicy.  They find a way to chemically remove the spice, which finally has Kit and his new friend Dr. Rasplicka find a way to make their dream salsa. Enter the mild salsa. They also come out with medium, hot and extra hot salsa, so there is something for everyone. It is not only used as a condiment, but also as a dip.

-Back in Dallas, Wayne decides to invent a new flavor with the help of Arch…the Cool Ranch flavor. Ranch was not popular at the time but would soon become a huge hit. It would also allow Ranch dressing to become popular.

-Tortilla chips, combined with salsa would become one of the most popular snack combos of all time, being sold together in grocery stores worldwide.

-Salsa is the most popular condiment in America.

-Campbell’s would buy Pace for a billion dollars. Pace is the second most popular salsa in the country, right behind the Tostitos salsa.

-Doritos and Tostitos earn billions of dollars per year.

-More next week, stay tuned.