EAT ME (OR TRY NOT TO) is a six-part series that explores how global iconic food brands shape our world and where we’re headed.

It’s hard to imagine going through a whole day without eating at least one of our favorite food brands. No matter where you are in the world. In under two centuries, they’ve spanned continents and cultures, spurred innovation and technology, and forever changed the food landscape.

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It’s hard to imagine going through a whole day without eating at least one iconic food brand. No matter where you are in the world.

The Takeover

Our food preferences are influenced by dozens of factors, including genetics, environment, and habit. But the taste is also about perception. The color, texture, and weight of food are as important as the flavor. So what does it take to create the next iconic food product?

Our food preferences are shaped before we even take a bite. Genetics, culture, and perception influence what goes in our grocery carts.

The Taste

Today, we’re familiar with so many food brands that we no longer need to be convinced to buy many of them. But at one point, each and every one of them had to come up with a plan to get us to try them. Today, the food and drink marketing industry is worth about $900 billion - and growing.

Marketing food or drink to one demographic is easy. Marketing to the world is trickier. Because there’s no one size fits all slogan or ad.

The Marketing

With every single bite or sip that we take, we are participating in the oldest and one of the most complex and sophisticated journey’s around the world ever taken. The global food supply chain is part of an 8 trillion dollar network that produces over 4 billion tons of food each year.

With every single bite or sip we take, we are participating in the oldest and one of the most complex journey’s around the world ever taken.

The Supply Chain

Food brands have traveled around the world for as long as humans have. But it doesn’t just visit. It sticks around and changes the place. It doesn’t need a passport or a visa, just some welcoming taste buds. And once that food is adopted, it becomes part of local culture and tradition.

Food brands have traveled around the world for as long as humans. But how does a global food landscape change local culture and traditions?

The Impact

It’s an interesting time to be in the food business. Or, you know, just eat. Climate change, a global pandemic, a booming population…It’s also a time ripe with opportunity, not unlike the first wave of the industrial food revolution that gave us the first globally mass produced, processed foods.

It’s an interesting time to be in the food business. Climate change, a pandemic, a booming population. How will the food industry respond?