The 10 Most Iconic American Food Brands Of All Time

There’s an old saying about how few things are as American as apple pie and baseball, and sure, we’ll go along with that. However, we would like to add that there are a number of food brands that are just as iconically American, and we wanted to take a look at who’s top dog when it comes to stateside grocery shelves and what American companies have made a sprawling impact on the global food scene.

Easy, right? Not exactly, because picking a top ten turned out to be really, really hard. Making the final choices was done at a round table with some of us here at Tasting Table, and to give you an idea of just how complicated this was, we ended up adding more choices in the process of narrowing things down.

To give you an idea of the framework we were working in, we were looking for the companies that have been around for ages, shaped America’s food landscape in some way, and remain instantly recognizable icons. These are the brands that many people consider go-to staples, whose commercials and jingles live rent-free in our heads, who filled the lunch boxes of Gen X and became 21st-century stalwarts. One thing we did do was to skip conglomerates — you’re not going to see General Mills or Unilever here, for example — and instead, we focused on individual brands that have shaped our eating habits. Sometimes, that happened in surprising ways. 

But we said no conglomerates, you might be wondering, and here we are, talking about the Michigan-based Kellogg’s? Absolutely, and to be clear, we’re talking about the company that changed the way America ate breakfast — and after a 2023 split, that part of the business became WK Kellogg Co, which was subsequently acquired by Ferrero in 2026. That includes cereals like Froot Loops, Corn Flakes, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies … you know, all the big ones.

Kellogg is nothing short of a breakfast pioneer, and it is a strange story. At the turn of the 20th century, John Harvey Kellogg set out on a mission to make Americans more moral — and he was going to do it by promoting ideas like bathing more and a vegetarian diet. He was the one who created what he considered to be a suitably bland way to start the day, and the “WK” whose name is on the company these days is the one who turned his experimental cereal into a commercial juggernaut.

Will Keith Kellogg was John Harvey’s younger brother, and there’s a lot of hazy history as to what went on in those early years (that’s partially because the Kellogg brothers kind of hated each other). We do know Corn Flakes changed the game when it came to breakfast: it was fast, easy, and accessible. Gone were the days when making breakfast meant cooking an entire meal, and when Kellogg’s followed Corn Flakes with Bran Flakes and All-Bran, cereal was firmly cemented as the nation’s go-to breakfast.

Jell-O has also been around for much longer than you might think, going all the way back to 1897 in Leroy, New York. The idea was actually built on the back of a struggling business: Pearl and May Wait weren’t having much luck selling cough syrup, so they used the same flavors in gelatin and created something that was, well, not an immediate hit. Fun fact: the man who invented the just-add-water powder that allowed for the creation of Jell-O wasn’t trying to develop food. He was trying to make glue. Go figure!

Wait sold the idea for a few hundred dollars, and it took a lot of advertising, free samples, and recipe books to get the idea to hit, but it worked. By the 1920s, Norman Rockwell signed on to their advertising, and while ease and affordability made it a favorite, the rise of refrigeration helped turn it into a dessert that was something of a status symbol.

The strange, savory Jell-O flavors that dominated through the 1960s were decade-defining, and Jell-O salads, both sweet and savory, have a long, rich history. More recently, its popularity with the Mormon community has earned it a place as an official state snack of Utah, and strange Jell-O facts continue. Scientists also discovered Jell-O jiggles in a way that simulates brain waves on an EEG machine, and that is something you know now. Happy snacking!

If you believe that the American spirit means getting up again and again after being knocked down, Hershey’s has the origin story for you. Milton Hershey traveled across the country to learn everything he could about candy-making, and had several failed businesses under his belt by the time he headed back home to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to give it another go. His caramel company was founded in the 1880s, and it wasn’t until 1893’s World’s Columbian Exposition that he turned his attention to chocolate. 

Today, Hershey owns a staggering number of brands, including Almond Joy, Breath Savers, Good & Plenty, Jolly Ranchers … and the list goes on. Interestingly, Milton Hershey didn’t become a real-life Willy Wonka by being cutthroat. He was known for being wildly philanthropic, building an entire town — Hershey, Pennsylvania — to ensure that employees and the community had access to public transportation, education, the arts, and entertainment — most notably in the form of Hersheypark.

The company also earned a lot of goodwill by being front and center during World War II. Hershey scientists were behind the development and manufacture of field rations for the Allied troops, including a chocolate bar that didn’t melt in extreme temperatures. It was such a big deal that Hershey — and every employee at the time — got honors from the military. When the war was over, Hershey had cemented its place as distinctly American, its chocolate bars having come to symbolize the everyday comforts that troops hoped to return to.

M&Ms aren’t just delicious — because who doesn’t love them — they have one of the best food brand mascots ever to exist. Much like Hershey, M&Ms were firmly entrenched in America’s hearts and minds after being widely popularized during World War II … but we’re getting ahead of ourselves by just a few years. The history goes back to the Spanish Civil War — maybe — which is when the wildly private and notoriously reclusive Forrest Mars Sr. was — reportedly — touring Spain. The story goes that he saw someone eating chocolate protected by a candy coating, but as far as the details go, that’s about all there is to it. 

Mars stayed in Europe for a bit, and when he returned, he hooked up with Hershey to source chocolate for his idea. The initials for the candy represent Mars and Bruce Murrie, and it’s somewhere around here that the U.S. government got involved. M&Ms were ideal for troops serving in sweltering climates, and they were initially a military-only candy. 

Fast forward a few years, and when M&Ms went commercial, they were an immediate success. Peanut M&Ms followed in the 1950s, alongside those Spokescandies and the “M” mark each candy bears, and it’s remained a phenomenon. M&Ms have headed to space and been shared on the International Space Station; they’ve dominated at the Olympics, and have spread across the globe. If you’re wondering just how beloved they are, 10 million votes were cast when it came time to choose a new color in 1995.

It’s impossible to think about Kraft without thinking of Kraft Mac & Cheese … for better or worse. The company did, indeed, start with cheese, way back in 1903 when the Canadian-born JL Kraft started a Chicago-based business where he acted as the cheese-selling middleman between wholesalers and consumers, but that was just the beginning. It’s easy to see how cheese could be a little problematic in those days. It spoiled pretty quickly on a warm day, and Kraft changed that when he started developing processes to melt and package cheese in cans. 

It was an undeniably brilliant move that changed our relationship with cheese. Canned cheese hit the market in 1916, and it came along just in time to supply U.S. troops fighting on the front lines in World War I. 

Innovations kept coming and included the 1920s era Velveeta and its perfect meltiness, then those pre-sliced squares and Kraft Mac & Cheese in the 1930s. Miracle Whip came on the scene about the same time, and yes, cynics might point out that this arguably sent the U.S. down a road of ultra-processed foods. At the time, however, these products represented major advances in convenience, affordability, and shelf life. Kraft Mac & Cheese was a widely popular and important affordable meal that helped families through Depression-era scarcity, and the processes Kraft developed actually helped preserve food longer and made the country’s food supply safer.

Heinz and Kraft kind of go hand-in-hand. In 2025, ten years after they merged to become one of the biggest food corporations in the world, it was announced that the honeymoon was over and there was plenty of speculation about what would happen if the two again split into Kraft and Heinz. What’s undeniable is that the HJ Heinz Company and its founder have had a vast, far-reaching impact on America’s food industry, and we’re not even talking about ketchup or those iconic pickles.

Heinz is also a lesson in perseverance. After the failure of his horseradish business, bankruptcy, ostracization, and even arrest left him bedridden and suffering from severe depression, Heinz partnered with his brother and cousin to get into the tomato business. It was 1876, and Heinz Ketchup became one of the first American food brands to go international (Heinz Baked Beans remain a U.K. staple).

He was about more than the product, though, and Heinz was one of the most vocal proponents of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. He oversaw advances in factory technology, glass bottle manufacturing, and pioneered the assembly line (yes, before Henry Ford). He relied on strict quality controls and a reputation for cleanliness. And in 1900, Heinz unveiled a massive electric billboard in New York City — the first display of its kind, standing six stories tall and featuring Heinz and its “57” varieties. The famous 57 was inspired by an advertisement for “21 styles” of shoes, which convinced Heinz that a number could add weight to a product. He reportedly settled on 57 by combining his favorite number, five, with his wife’s favorite, seven. Eventually, Heinz was everywhere and still is.

We’re going to go out on a limb and say that when you’re feeling a little under-the-weather, there’s nothing that hits the spot like a piping hot bowl of Campbell’s soup and some Saltines (or maybe some oyster crackers, if you want to go ahead and feel a lil’ fancy). Campbell’s has been around for a long time, founded back in 1869. It originally focused on things like jams and vegetables, and unlike many of the most iconic brands, the original founders had bailed by 1894. That was one year before the company released the first in its iconic line of soups: Beefsteak Tomato.

Campbell’s invested in developing a process for canning soup, with an eye toward not only affordability and tastiness, but can size. Campbell’s newly developed condensing processes resulted in such a small can that it helped the company’s popularity skyrocket. It was sort of a windfall of perfect timing: Americans needed convenient, affordable meals, and Campbell’s helped lead the charge in prepared foods.

It still accounts for a huge section of the prepared soup market; here are some fun facts: the titular Chicken Noodle didn’t come along until 1934, and alongside its introduction was everyone’s favorite, the extra-versatile, always-handy Cream of Mushroom. The recipe for Green Bean Casserole — still a staple in millions of homes — came about in 1955, and if you’re wondering about those red and white cans, that’s a strange one. They debuted in 1898 and were inspired by the colors worn by Cornell University’s football team.

America’s best-selling cake mix brand of 2026 easily outshines all the others, and of course, we’re talking about Betty Crocker. That’s not bad, considering she celebrated her 105th birthday that same year — or would have, if she were real. When the parent company of Gold Medal Flour received hundreds of letters asking various baking-related questions after it released a 1921 advertisement and giveaway, the powers-that-be realized how invaluable a friendly mascot who could answer all those questions would be. Names were chosen, an employee created her signature, and it was a massive hit.

Honestly, that’s kind of an understatement. By the 1940s, surveys suggested the only woman who was more famous was Eleanor Roosevelt, and her ever-evolving image has been a fixture ever since. Betty Crocker wrote letters, answered questions, gave advice, and even before she transitioned to radio and television in the 1920s and 1950s, respectively, she was credited with encouraging home cooks everywhere to get creative with their cooking.

Perhaps surprisingly, Betty Crocker’s initial appeal was as a mentor, and she didn’t get her first branded product until 1941. (It was a soup.) Cake mixes quickly followed, and other time-saving kits for creating brownies, cookies, and muffins are still a favorite for keeping on the shelf for those days when you’re craving something fresh out of the oven, but don’t really want to make something from scratch. She’s still handing out all kinds of advice, too — albeit on the web.

Mention the name of Oscar Mayer to anyone of a certain age, and you’ll undoubtedly be instantly serenaded by that infinitely catchy jingle … or at the very least, find them holding back the urge to break into song. Oscar Mayer has done much more than introduce catchy earworms to an entire generation. Sure, you know the company for its deli meats, but back when the OG Oscar Mayer settled in Chicago from his native Germany, the meat-packing industry was not a nice place. Upton Sinclair’s often-misunderstood novel “The Jungle” is usually credited with overhauling the meat-packing industry, but Mayer was right there, too.

He bought his first plant in 1919, and it grew by leaps and bounds. Sinclair’s book was also about worker conditions, and Mayer invested in his employees and even guaranteed them access to affordable housing. Meanwhile, customers who felt burned by Sinclair’s exposé loved the company’s commitment to a safe and quality product. Over the decades, Oscar Mayer spearheaded things like new quality control measures and vacuum-sealed packages, and established a willingness to submit to government oversight to ensure food safety.

It can also be argued that Oscar Mayer pioneered something else, too, when it introduced America to modern food trucks back in the 1930s. That is, of course, the Wienermobile, which hit the streets back in 1936. The original might not be around anymore, but the concept is still alive and well. And seriously, who wouldn’t want to be a Wienermobile driver?

No one wants to imagine a world without snacks, and the snack food aisles we all know and love today are largely the work of two men named CE Doolin (of Texas) and Herman W. Lay (of Tennessee). Both got their start back in 1932: Doolin made and sold corn chips, while Lay transitioned from delivering potato chips to retail customers to overseeing a distribution business and finally buying the potato chip business he was working for. Lay’s expanded in a big way in the 1940s, and by that time, Doolin’s Frito National Company was looking to outsource manufacturing. The two paired up and officially became Frito-Lay in 1961. 

Separately and together, the companies were responsible for some serious snack food innovations. The military has invented some rather surprising foods and drinks, and that includes cheese powder. Frito-Lay was an early adopter of this now-common ingredient, and it was Doolin who was behind the development of Cheetos. The announcement of a new snack isn’t big these days, but at the time, it was a huge deal — it was one of only a handful of snack food options on the market.

Somehow, the company’s snack lineup has only continued to expand. Frito-Lay is still one of the country’s biggest snack brands, and it’s still innovating. We expect no different from the company that has a history of expanding well past chips to pioneer bringing things like peanut butter and cheese cracker sandwiches, pork skins, chili, and bean dip to the snack aisle.