When Bill Mitchell took his family on vacation in 1957, he kept finding himself drawn to unique roadside attractions: small stands shaped like oranges, selling fresh-squeezed orange juice. As a food scientist, Mitchell believed he could make an instant breakfast drink that tasted like OJ without the hassle of squeezing oranges. And that’s how Tang was born..

From its inception, to its trip to the moon, to its status as a cultural phenomenon, to its continued sale all over the world today, Tang is like no other drink mix in history.

There’s just something interesting about a powder that dissolves in water and becomes a whole new drink. Join host and producer Stuart as he takes a deep dive into the history of Tang.

Links
Richard Foss books
The Cult of Convenience by Dr. Maggie Weber

Original music for this series is written and record by Doug Hoyer
[additional tracks come from Blue Dot Sessions and Storyblocks ]

More episodes can be found at crewcollectivepodcast.com

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Executive Producers: Matt Medeiros, Carl Hancock and Travis Totz

Graphic and web design by Melissa Jelich-Stohmaier

This episode was written, researched, edited, produced and narrated by Stuart Barefoot

Sources:

Foss, R. (2015). Food in the air and space: The surprising history of food and drink in the skies. Rowman & Littlefield.

WEBER M. The Cult of Convenience: Marketing and Food in Postwar America. Enterprise & Society. 2021;22(3):605-634. doi:10.1017/eso.2020.7

Steyn, M. (2004, November). Tastemaker with a sweet tooth. The Atlantic, 294(4), 186-187. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/11/tastemaker-with-a-sweet-tooth/303577/

“A Match Made in Heaven,” The Baltimore Sun, July 20, 1999 – Read it here