The murky origins of Graham crackers - Stephanie Honchell Smith episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 7, 2026 · 8 MIN

The murky origins of Graham crackers - Stephanie Honchell Smith

from TED-Ed · host TED-Ed

Trace the strange history of Graham crackers, invented by minister Sylvester Graham in order to curb the vices of Americans.--In the 1800s, minister Sylvester Graham believed Americans had a big problem— not just with their bodies, but their souls. He argued that overindulgence was fueling their baser desires, making them immoral and oversexed. To curb this corruption, puritanical reformers advocated for foods they thought curbed a variety of appetites. Stephanie Honchell Smith details the invention of Graham crackers.Lesson by Stephanie Honchell Smith, directed by Anton Bogaty.Support Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-were-graham-crackers-designed-to-taste-bad-stephanie-honchell-smithDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-were-graham-crackers-designed-to-taste-bad-stephanie-honchell-smith/digdeeperAnimator's website: https://antonbogaty.com----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Katie McDowell, Allen, Mahina Knuckles, Charmaine Hanson, Thawsitt, Jezabel, Abdullah Abdulaziz, Xiao Yu, Melissa Suarez, Brian A. Dunn, Francisco Amaya, Daisuke Goto, Matt Switzler, Peng, Tzu-Hsiang, Bethany Connor, Jeremy Shimanek, Mark Byers, Avinash Amarnath, Xuebicoco, Rayo, Po Foon Kwong, Boffin, Jesse Jurman, Scott Markley, Elija Peterson, Ovidiu Mrd, paul g mohney, Steven Razey, Nathan Giusti, Helen Lee, Anthony Benedict, Karthik Balsubramanian, Annastasshia Ames, Amy Lopez, Vinh-Thuy Nguyen, Liz Candee, Ugur Doga Sezgin, Karmi Nguyen, John C. Vesey, Yelena Baykova, Nick Johnson, Carlos H. Costa, Jennifer Kurkoski, Ryan B Harvey, Akinola Emmanuel, Jose Arcadio Valdes Franco, Sebastiaan Vleugels, Karl Laius, JY Kang, and Abhishek Goel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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