The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘Modern Marvels’ revived on History
Adam Richman hosts new version and another food show.
Adam Richman's love for food is well-documented courtesy of his breakout hit show on the Travel Channel “Man vs. Food,” where he took on ridiculously American eating challenges, scarfing down gargantuan amounts of pizza, burgers and wings in painfully brief amounts of time.
The Emory University graduate, who lived in Atlanta for sixplus years in the 1990s, retired from that job after four years in 2012 and has since dabbled in other healthier projects for Travel Channel, NBC, BBC and Facebook Watch, to name a few.
Now, he's working with one of his favorite networks, History, and has rebooted the network's old staple "Modern Marvels." The original show, which ran nearly 700 episodes from 1992 to 2015, was narrated by different men over the years and covered every topic under the sun, from the Empire State Building to balloons to monster trucks.
Richman hosts the revived version, which debuted last Sunday, and he appears on camera and interacts with the subjects.
It's being paired with Season 2 of "The Food That Built America," which focuses on the history of famous American brands and the entrepreneurs that created them, like Cheetos, Oreos and Pizza Hut. Richman is an expert on that show as well. The early "Modern Marvel" episodes are all focused on food. (Future "Modern Marvels" will be linked with spin-off shows such as "The Machines That Build America" and "The Toys That Built America.")
“I can say ‘The Food That Built America' is about the legend,” Richman said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-constitution. “‘Modern Marvels' is about the legacy.”
Rebooting "Modern Marvels," to him, is like a baseball fan getting to play with the New York Yankees: "Can I sign this contract twice?"
While Richman fashions himself as a food expert, he said he is no Alton Brown. He is more a food enthusiast, readily apparent
while he's, say, sampling mint chocolate chip ice cream at a Turkey Hill Ice Cream plant with unalloyed joy.
"I am the audience," he said. "I am a cypher for you."
The first three episodes tackle three yummy topics: cookies, cheese and ice cream. All were shot under COVID-19 conditions, so Richman and his subjects wear masks. In the first episode, Richman visits an Entenmann's chocolate cookie plant in Horsham, Pennsylvania, and is pleasantly surprised that the cookies largely use the same ingredients home bakers would use in their kitchen. It's just done on a massive scale.
Richman was able to enjoy the smell of fresh-baked cookies writ large and even sample a warm one right off the line. The quality control employees would pluck 10 pieces of cookie dough at a time and weigh them to ensure that they were all within the same proper weight. Richman nabbed 10 himself, squashed the dough together, weighed them, then gleefully threw the ball of dough into the vat like a jump shot on a basketball court.
He loved that "Modern Marvels" offers airtime and respect to loyal blue-collar employees, many who have worked at these factories for decades and take deep pride in what they do,
whether it's creating a bag of potato chips or high-end ricotta cheese.
The show is sprinkled with a potpourri of factoids. The cookie episode features tidbits about Girl Scout cookies and fortune cookies, including a factory that still folds the cookies by hand. "I love learning cool nickel knowledge," he said.
And he felt oddly comforted by what he saw inside the factories.
"Food production facilities are the best places on earth to be now," Richman said. "The people involved had even more stringent standards of cleanliness than I do."
He also enjoyed visiting factories that go back decades, including the oldest
known confectioner that opened in the 1860s and used kettles that have been around for more than a century. And he even spent time learning how military ready-made meals (MRES) are created and was impressed how tasty they were — even the tube meals created for fighter pilots.
"I took home two tubes of the truffle mac and cheese and three sleeves of fries," he said.
Richman also worked a drive-thru line at a White Castle and learned to appreciate how hard that job is.
"There is no replacing the value of humans doing an honest day's work," he said. "It is the most Herculean feat to provide a hot, delicious meal for someone within that time frame they do it."
“Be sure your sins will find you.”
This verse, found in the Old Testament in the book of Numbers, is part of Moses’ conversation with the leaders of two of Israel’s tribes who decided to settle before crossing the Jordan in their conquest of Canaan, the Promised Land. The other tribes were getting ready to move into the new territory, but two tribes decided not to join them. As a compromise, they vowed to fight side by side with the remaining tribes and help them conquer Canaan.
Their proposal was fair and generous. Moses thus granted their request, trusting that they would fulfill their promise, and blessed their desire to settle on that side of the Jordan. But with the blessing, he warns them of the dangers of breaking their vow: “If you fail, you sin against the Lord, and not against your brethren only, and be sure your sin will find you out (…)”
Moses’ words in the context were meant as a warning against breaking a promise made before God, but the principle certainly applies to the secret lives that many people live. In the New Testament, Jesus addressed the issue in one of his parables:
“For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
Through the years, we have witnessed the rise and fall of many influential spiritual leaders, eventually exposed by the depth of their sins. From church leaders caught in adultery to cases of sexual abuse, to infamous claims of financial fraud, men and women of apparent irreproachable conduct managed to live a lie for many years. They continued gracing their pulpits or proudly serving their church while living a double life. They lift their hands high in praise to a God who has long turned his face from them because of their counterfeit faith and unrepentant deception.
In the past several months, we have witnessed it happen again, as the secret life of one of the greatest apologists of all times, Ravi Zacharias, was exposed in sordid details. In 2017, an allegation of sexual misconduct by a Canadian woman, Lori Anne Thompson, ended in Zacharias suing Thompson and her husband for racketeering. For the most part, the public buried the subject and believed the legendary Christian leader.
In the meantime, investigations into the accusations continued after Zacharias’ death in May 2020, as more witnesses came forward, exposing Zacharias’ double life. Last week, the Atlanta law firm Miller & Martin, hired by RZIM, Zacharias’ ministry, released its final report of the independent investigation conducted into the leader’s behavior.
The findings are sickening. Zacharias went to the grave honored as a man of great faith and exemplary behavior. Still, the investigations unveiled a web of deceitful conduct, confirming the victims’ allegations that the leader had engaged in serious acts of sexual misconduct, including “sexting, unwanted touching, spiritual abuse, and rape.”
When he died in May, the Christian world celebrated his legacy with deference and gratitude. I wrote a column for this paper in his honor, as did many other writers worldwide. We did not know the truth about his dark side, hidden behind his powerful and enlightening messages.
But God knew the truth, and Zacharias should have known better: His sin indeed found him, just as God promises in his word. And even though he is not here to face the victims, family, and those who looked up to him for spiritual direction, make no mistake, he will certainly answer for every bit of evil he has done. And the judgment will be more somber than any lawsuit on earth.
Ravi Zacharias’ life story is heartbreaking and eye-opening. Even though the messages he preached and his teachings remain relevant, inspiring, and filled with truth, his legacy is blemished beyond repair. The irrevocable pain that he caused victims and his family will forever rest on his shoulder. And his life’s work, ever-relevant as it still is, will forever bear the stain of his sin.
What a tragedy! May we ponder this sad story as an example to encourage us to repent of our sins, lest pleasure and disregard of our actions’ consequences destroy the legacy we work so hard to build. May we remember that everything done in darkness will undoubtedly be revealed and come to light. It’s just a matter of time.