21 Fascinating Jobs Around The World

In India, truck drivers navigate treacherous roads to deliver critical supplies.

And in the US, workers provide meals, haircuts,

and even dental care at the largest truck stop in the country.

We've traveled the globe to learn about the world's most fascinating jobs.

We'll start with the people making food consumed miles above the earth's surface.

Airplane food has a bad reputation,

but the Qatar Airways cooks are whipping up high-quality food every day.

>> Every single dish is made from scratch at the Qatar Airways catering kitchen

in Doha.

It turns out more than 200,000 fresh meals a day,

even for regional short-haul flights.

It all needs to be prepared about 48 hours before takeoff.

>> I think perhaps the biggest challenge is just ensuring

that there's consistency and

that everything runs smoothly.

>> The chefs here believe it's part of the reason the airline has been

named number one in the world for the eighth time since 2011.

This kind of cooking used to be the standard in most flights in America,

too, no matter what cabin you flew on.

But today, most US airlines don't run their own kitchens,

opting to buy from catering services instead.

So, why has economy airplane food gone from luxury to a point of ridicule

in the US?

And why do so few airlines still cook their own meals?

No workers are allowed to step foot in the kitchen without walking through this

air shower corridor first.

>> To ensure that we have no biological

or any physical contaminants go into the kitchen.

>> This is Filipe Hempis playground. 4,000 people from 38 countries at the Qatar

Aircraft Catering Company,

or QACC.

It's a part of the Qatar Airways Group.

The team develops new menus every 3 months.

All the produce is fresh.

Even though they're operating in a food desert.

They go through 30 metric tons of fruits

and vegetables daily and use custom machines to help prep them for meals.

Like this bin that can wash 12,000 peppers a day.

And this machine that peels six cantaloupes in under a minute.

Other produce like dragon fruit, strawberries, white asparagus, get a more delicate treatment.

They're peeled and carved by hand.

>> It's a big routine making almost 200,000 meals a day.

The team is rotated throughout their time working here.

>> Inside the hot kitchen, the aroma of cumin, garlic, and onions fills the air.

Chefs prepare dishes of several different cuisines from Indian to Arabic and Asian.

>> We base them mostly on the demographics of that flight.

For example, for America, we have a lot of traffic from the Indian subcontinent.

>> They use over 300 potatoes every day to make aloo tikki,

a popular street food in India.

The kitchen goes through 36,000 whole fresh eggs a week.

And another 3 and 1/2 tons of pasteurized egg whites are turned into 12,000

omelets a day.

Even the smallest change can be costly.

>> We need to ensure

that we're going to able to meet the quantities without having to make any

substitutions.

The moment we have any substitutions,

then menu cards will be affected and and things like that.

>> There's also a big emphasis on making most food from scratch.

Even for items that are often bought frozen or pre-made.

Like sausages and pasta.

>> If you're ordering ravioli from economy class, you're getting freshly made pasta,

which not many airlines do that.

>> Bread products are also prepared on site.

Bakers turn out 10,000 croissants an hour.

As well as handmade focaccias.

Pastry chefs design new desserts every quarter.

Like these chocolate brownies made from scratch.

>> We're giving this in economy and it's a homemade eggless brownie.

Tastes really good with a mousse underneath.

>> While people here handle food all day long,

taste testing is only reserved for a select few.

>> For each of our kitchens, we have a centralized tasting area.

So I'm here with Chef Harish, who's our executive chef for QACC.

Our senior chefs will taste the food, log it down, and give their comments.

If something does not pass our criteria, we redo the meals.

>> Pretty good?

>> Yeah?

You agree?

>> Qatar Airways has a total of 270 international flights leaving from Doha per day.

And on average, the airline serves 350 meals on each flight.

This facility also provides meals to other Oneworld Alliance partners

that fly out of Doha.

And to the 19 lounges >> >> at Hamad International Airport.

All the food is halal.

Prepared in accordance with Islamic dietary laws because Qatar is a Muslim country.

So for example, you won't find any pork on the menu.

But when it comes to drinks,

the airline does serve alcohol once you're up in the clouds.

Unlike some Muslim carriers like Saudia or Kuwait Airways, where it's banned.

Once each dish is finalized, it's stacked on a tray and labeled.

>> The reason we put a barcode is to ensure we have traceability for

every dish as well

as for the team on the other side to be able to easily find

what they need for assembly.

>> It also helps them track any food safety issues down the line.

>> We can trace it all the way back to the person that made it,

the day they made it, the time they made it,

and we can then further investigate if there's a need.

>> The trays are cooled for 90 minutes to prevent the growth of any

bacteria or pathogens.

And then, >> temperature is checked once again by infrared thermometer,

and the food is covered, scanned, and sent for storage.

>> It's not possible for the airline to prepare everything on the day of

the flight.

So usually, they make food in advance

and refrigerate it for 1 day at the most.

Any longer and the taste and texture could change,

especially for starchy foods like rice or pasta.

But nothing is fully frozen.

This cooling chamber is set to below 5° C

and can store 3,500 trays at a time.

A robotic arm adds and removes trays as needed across 30 levels.

In the cold kitchen, workers prepare fruit bowls, dips,

and about 12,000 sandwiches a day.

Many of these items end up on short-haul flights,

which are less than 3 hours long.

>> Peter here will request our mashed potatoes.

>> A few hours before the flight takes off,

the food trays that were stored in the chiller are brought back in for

portioning.

Workers on this line have their eyes at all times on the golden sample.

The combos are endless and change depending on the route.

The economy meals are dished up on trays and packed away.

Business class meals are temporarily portioned in these foil containers.

Flight attendants will later plate

and serve these dishes paying a lot of attention to the presentation,

which will ultimately look like this.

Qatar Airways tries to bring hints of luxury to economy too in the details.

They offer 18 meals that customers with special dietary needs can pre-order.

>> We have sort of our religious meals.

We also have our medical meals

and then we have our specific meals like child meals,

etc.

>> The culinary team has designed 50 meal choices for economy

and first class each

and 150 for business class

that are dished out based on a flight's route

and duration.

Every cabin gets real silverware.

All these items are dried, hand polished,

and assembled again ready for the next flight.

>> We're always looking at ways of to reduce single-use plastic.

We are looking at materials for a meal kits to be able to to

have less impact on the environment.

>> Qatar Airways won several awards including the Apex award for best food and beverage.

But they can't maintain high standards by only sourcing local products.

As Qatar is one of the hottest

and driest countries in the world with no lakes

or rivers.

Growing things here is hard.

>> Currently, we have more imported ingredients than than local.

However, this is something that we're trying to change.

We're working together with a lot of local farms,

fisheries to to provide some of our products.

>> That includes tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, and bok choy.

The trays are stacked on these carts

that are rolled onto trucks

that head for the tarmac.

The trolleys are pushed onto the aircraft and locked into the galleys.

Flight attendants then work their magic.

>> We have newer generation ovens,

which allow individualization of temperature and humidity when it comes to reheating the meals.

>> Truck drivers in India provide an essential service to villagers in the Himalayas.

>> >> They transport food, water, and medicine to remote regions,

but the crucial work comes at a deadly cost.

Killar road, deep in the Himalayas,

is one of the most dangerous in the world.

One reckless turn could send drivers hurtling down nearly 11,000 ft.

Still, every summer Ankur Rawat makes several trips,

delivering basic supplies to remote villages along this perilous route.

It connects the rest of India to the isolated region of Pangi Valley,

which is cut off for nearly 6 months of the year

because of heavy snow.

But sometimes trucks break down along the way, leaving drivers stranded for days.

So, what does it take to navigate these heavy-duty trucks on this deadly path?

We rode along with Anku through the mountains for 3 days to find out.

Anku lives in the village of Palhoon with his wife Savita and their children.

He never really knows what the weather will be.

So, he packs plenty of blankets.

They sit down for a family dinner before Anku sets off.

He first picks up the truck from a private parking lot

that rents them out.

This one has a power steering and a 5600 cc engine,

ideal for driving through the mountains.

Anku will make a few pit stops on this 107-mi journey.

First, he'll travel about 10 mi from his home to a warehouse in Chamba

to pick up food rations.

Then, he'll pass through several small towns and go through Sach Pass,

the highest point on Killar Road, before reaching his destination,

the district of Pangi Valley.

Today, Anku's loading 100-lb bags of wheat provided by the government to sustain India's

most isolated regions.

His truck can carry up to 12 tons.

But any more than that, and it could topple over.

He always stops at this local temple along the way.

The truck can hold up to 250 L of diesel.

But there are hardly any gas stations along the route.

The terrain starts off pretty smooth.

But as the truck goes uphill, it gets rough.

And his speed drops below 10 mph.

At this point, the road is only 10 ft wide.

And there's barely room for two cars to drive next to each other.

So when another vehicle approaches, Uncle needs to carefully reverse,

sometimes by hundreds of yards.

Luckily, he's traveling with truck conductor Muhammad Nisar Mughal,

who jumps out and guides Uncle around blind spots and dangerous turns.

>> There are no guardrails to prevent them from veering off.

In July 2022, a Jeep rolled into a gorge killing five people.

And in 2023, seven people died after their vehicle was hit by a landslide

on this route.

But after years of experience as a trucker, Anku isn't easily intimidated.

All the traditional rules of the road don't really apply.

Truck drivers communicate with hand signals,

which becomes important during moments of congestion like this.

They also use pressure horns, which are illegal in India.

But Anku says they need them for safety reasons.

Anku doesn't wear a seatbelt, either, even though under Indian law he's required to.

He says for this type of driving, they can do more harm than good,

as they restrict the driver from leaning over.

But stats on semi-truck accidents show

that drivers are more likely to survive

if they buckle up.

In this state alone,

trucks and buses accounted for 12% of all fatal crashes in 2022.

Landslides and snowfall have also weakened this road structure,

forming dishes and piles of debris.

So, the government hires contractors to keep repairing it.

Killar Road started off

as a footpath with narrow trails carved by shepherds

and traders who were trying to reach the remote Pangi Valley.

Legend has it that residents of Chamba fled to the hidden region to escape

Mughal invaders.

Others believe that in the 16th century,

the king of Chamba banished criminals to this isolated region.

These days, Killar Road is used mainly by tourists, bikers seeking an adrenaline rush,

truckers, and local residents.

After about 8 to 9 hours of driving, the men pull over.

They make a fire to start cooking with groceries they brought from home.

But even during dinner,

they stay vigilant in case they're confronted by wild animals or thieves.

There are no hotels for miles, so they sleep in the truck's cabin.

The next day, they start driving at the crack of dawn.

Killar Road gets even treacherous

and spectacular as trucks pass through waterfalls

and incredibly tight spaces.

>> >> Vehicles along this route often run into mechanical problems.

This truck carrying grains to Pangi Valley broke down after the gearbox stopped working.

The mechanic says the nearest store for car parts is about 180 miles away.

The whole process will take four days

and the truck will just stay here until

then.

Anku and his team carry on with their journey.

At around midday, they stop at a local dhaba for a quick bite.

These cafes cater to truck drivers.

The people who run them, like Lakshman Sharma,

understand how hard it is to drive around here.

But even these cafes close down once it starts snowing around October.

While Anku's job is an essential service,

he only makes about 10,000 rupees a month.

That's about 4 US dollars a day.

Enough to buy a few pounds of rice and lentils in India.

>> >> He could make about 25,000 rupees a month

as a personal driver in Delhi

or Bombay.

But his heart belongs here in the Himalayas.

And he wants the whole world to know how beautiful these mountains are.

So he vlogs on the side.

He has about 50,000 followers and counting on YouTube.

But the most treacherous part of this route is getting through Sach Pass.

At nearly 14,500 feet,

Sach Pass is one of the highest navigable places in the state of Himachal

Pradesh.

Drivers are advised not to stop at the top for more than 5 minutes

because there's so little oxygen in the air.

The road through here is even more narrow.

Barely more than 8 feet wide.

So uncle needs to be extremely mindful when navigating the steep slope.

>> It takes him about 3 to 4 hours to go through this 9-mi

stretch.

After they're through, Anku recaps the journey for his followers.

Killar is among 106 villages in Pangi Valley,

which has a total population of just 18,000 people.

Almost 200 trucks head there every summer, carrying food, medicine, and other basic supplies.

They store it in this warehouse for the winter,

and residents buy them at a subsidized rate set by the government.

As soon as they're done unloading, Anku and his colleagues hit the road.

Along the way, they pass by a nomadic community called the Gujjars.

For Uncle, catching up with them over a cup of tea has become a

ritual.

Even though driving through these mountains is a part of Uncle's identity,

the job has worn him down.

But he still yearns for the day he can truly enjoy the breathtaking nature

around him.

>> After training to become a Navy culinary specialist,

seamen can be placed as cooks on a submarine,

an environment with a unique set of challenges.

>> These Navy culinary specialists are preparing 15 lb of turkey, 10 lb of ham,

and pulled pork sandwiches made from scratch, along with mac and cheese, corn,

mashed potatoes, and cookies to serve a crew of 150 sailors.

>> Pulled pork, macaroni.

>> And they only have about 5 hours to prepare each meal.

>> You want the soup, too?

>> But this isn't your typical Navy galley.

This is where meals are made on a submarine in classified locations deep at

sea.

The crew of the nuclear-powered USS South Dakota works around the clock to monitor

>> Emergency bearing my depth 155 ft pilot eye. >>

and potentially engage with foreign threats.

>> We're tasked to go do something and we go do it.

>> For up to 9 months,

they work and live within the tight confines of their windowless ship where every

role is critical to the mission success.

Among them are the culinary specialists.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> These crew members have an essential responsibility,

feeding up to 150 sailors and fueling them for the challenges that lie ahead.

>> We are essentially the morale of the fleet.

Like if our morale is low,

their morale's going to be low

and you can easily taste it in the food.

>> Business Insider spent 2 days aboard the USS South Dakota

while it lay in port at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton,

Connecticut observing culinary specialists preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the crew.

>> The USS South Dakota is a Virginia class submarine.

Specifically, it's a block three,

meaning it has a few more capabilities

and a few more modifications than the regular Virginia class submarines.

And the the ship is manned 24 hours a day,

7 days a week while we're in port uh for security reasons.

>> While some off-duty crew members go home to see their families,

those on board rely on the meals prepared by the culinary specialists.

>> It might not be everyone all at once, but I'm going to feed everyone.

So, if I have 150 people on board,

I'm going to feed 150 people pretty much almost every meal.

>> Because the USS South Dakota is a nuclear powered submarine,

its time at sea is limited only by the amount of food it can

carry.

>> About 2 weeks in, you'll probably run out of fresh food.

That's the unfortunate reality of it.

So, we have some food in the outboards.

We have food in every locker imaginable.

If there's space available

and we can kind of quickly put food up there

and maybe ratchet down.

We'll take that opportunity to do that.

>> Fully stocked, the sub carries about 90 days worth of food.

>> The strategy for keeping fresh food aboard a submarine is you just accept

when you run out of fresh food.

And the second you get an opportunity to get more fresh food on,

you take that opportunity.

Today for dinner we're having Thanksgiving.

So we're having turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, hot rolls for our bread.

So this right here is essentially my menu.

Uh the actual name for it is the food preparation worksheet.

But layman's terms, this is essentially my menu.

This uh tells me everything that I'm having for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

>> Today, Petty Officer CSS Wesley Whitson is preparing 10 lb of ham

and 15 lb of turkey.

>> So the turkey itself I'm going to have to actually like cut up

a little bit,

you know, throw some seasoning on.

But the ham I literally just unwrap it, throw it in a pan,

wrap it up, call it a day.

That Yeah, that I can do real quick.

Uh so yeah, let's get with that.

And then when I'm ready,

I'm just going to throw it in the oven

and then I'm just going to let it make out.

Really easy, nothing nothing too crazy.

And done.

Yay, one less thing I got to worry about.

Okay.

Manning for us is supposed to be roughly about like seven or eight.

I don't have that right now, so I'm I'm working with what I got.

But because there's only so few of us, not only are you know,

we essentially you know, manager, but I'm also the cook.

I am the guy that has to make it.

So I not only have to manage everything,

but I have to make sure that I'm actually getting it done myself.

Days will usually take care of like lunch and dinner and you know,

for the meals.

Uh the night guy will kind of help prep for lunch a little bit,

but the day guys will will take over and they'll finish it.

>> With extended deployments, confined spaces, and shifts that can last up to 12 hours,

submarine assignments aren't desirable to many.

>> Not a lot of people want to, you know, wanted to join the military,

but also not a lot of people wanting to join subs, you know,

within the Navy, uh especially as a culinary specialist as a cook.

And I I get it.

This job isn't for everyone.

>> To compensate, the Navy offers an additional $85 to $600 a month to

submarine crew members based on rank

and time in service.

Culinary specialists who work aboard submarines earn a base salary of about $26,000.

>> Now, I just let those sit and proof.

So, I'll give them roughly about an hour or so,

and then I'll turn it over to actually bake,

and then they should be good to go.

So, not only am I the galley watch captain,

uh but I am also uh our bulk store custodian

or JOD as we call it,

which stands for jack of the dust.

That responsibility for me is to go about

and uh do what we call breakouts uh

or shopping uh to put it in layman's terms.

They'll look at the menu, they'll write a list of like what groceries,

you know, what food items they need or groceries, and they'll be like,

"I need this stuff."

And I'll take it be like, "All right."

And then I just go to where we keep all of our food,

you know, all the storerooms on board,

uh and then I will break it out uh for them.

That way they have it available for the next day.

>> Food is kept in storerooms, small cabinets, and other locations around the ship.

But because of operational security concerns,

cameras were only allowed in the galley during our visit.

>> Space is a luxury on a submarine,

so definitely keeping food anywhere we can to maximize the amount

that we have on board.

So, actually in all of these uh bench seats will have food,

as well as these backs will have some extra dry provisions.

And that'll be the same for all these bench seats

that will have some uh maple syrup,

chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup.

So, any kind of random select items like that.

We'll have soy sauce in those.

We'll have seasoning in these outboard ones.

Yeah, so we got bags of soup in there.

So, I am the supply officer chop on board.

Uh what that means I'm responsible for both the food service division

and the logistics division.

So, the first storm I have is the forward storm or the can room,

which as the name implies is just full of cans.

Typically, this room is actually a lot more full with cans coming all the

way up to this front door

and then actually going to the ceiling.

So, as we fill this up with more cans,

kind of like deciding what we're going to use first

and making sure those are actually put in the front.

When the guys need to get something out of the freezer,

they'll actually uh put a jacket on, get a headlamp on,

get a beanie on.

Pretty much just layer up like they're going to go in a cold area

like this area is below freezing most time.

Right now, it's -3.9°.

>> All food aboard submarines is logged and tracked every day.

And the budget for meals is determined by a daily allowance per sailor.

>> If we're in port,

we can spend anywhere from like $700 to $1,000 a day.

And then if we're out to sea,

anywhere from about $1,600 to like $2,800 per day.

We operate off of a 28-day cycle menu.

We'll have the same meals every 28 days.

It's definitely designed where it creates that kind of consistency throughout the week.

So, if you're having Italian on a night, you know it's a Thursday.

Or if you're having pizza for dinner, then you know it's a Saturday.

So, it helps the crew kind of keep their own pace

and honestly helps them pass the time.

If you're like, "Oh wow,

this is the second time we've had pizza this underway."

then you know it's already been 2 weeks.

>> Ooh, I can smell it.

Ooh, almost.

Almost.

>> Back in the kitchen,

culinary specialist Whitson has just 1 hour before the crew begins to line up

for dinner.

>> Ooh.

How's it feel to be done cooking?

>> Feels good.

Good to know that all I have left is to serve this out.

And then after that it's just clean up and then I'm done.

I got a whole lot of going on.

I'm going home to my wife and I'm getting my cuddles.

>> >> I appreciate all you guys.

I will take everything but the ham.

>> Extra ham?

>> I got you.

>> Extra ham?

I got you.

Just Just for you cuz I know how much you love that pork.

>> Oh man, you already know.

>> No corn and no soup.

Extra corn, extra soup?

I got you.

>> It's great.

It's great.

>> I remember three years >> I honestly love cooking.

I love being in the galley.

I love working with food.

I love putting out really good meals and making people happy with them.

I You know, I like seeing everyone being fulfilled

and having a good meal

and enjoying themselves with it.

>> On a sub, there is no internet, cell service,

or access to the outside world other than mission-critical communications

and the occasional email from family transmitted via secure satellite leaving crew members to

find their own ways of staying entertained during the little downtime they get.

>> I'm either reading a book, watching TV,

whether be like a TV show or a movie,

or I'm playing on my laptop.

>> My favorite way to pass time underway was honestly just spending time with

my guys.

You know, maybe if it's just playing chess

and cruise master like even just listening to music in my room

or listening to music in the wardroom.

Just That's distracting yourself in a way

but also keeping yourself busy

while keeping your mind active.

I think that's the best way to do it.

>> On every submarine, the crew's mess is designed to reflect a piece of

the state it's named after.

Aboard the USS South Dakota,

the space draws inspiration from Deadwood's iconic saloon number 10.

>> That's where the crew goes to relax.

It's also where they eat.

That's also where they, >> >> you know,

kind of let their hair down

and study if they

if they need to

or play cards,

play dominoes, play video games, conduct training.

It's kind of all all-purpose,

and that's what the did with saloon was to South Dakota back in the

1800s.

>> The next day, culinary specialist Lupon Jimenez steps into the galley ready to

prepare breakfast for the crew.

On the menu this morning, steak and egg burritos, pancakes, hash browns, and bacon.

It takes 3 hours to prepare the meal.

>> May I do a steak burrito with eggs and bacon?

>> And at 7:00,

the hungry sailors make their way to the crew's mess for breakfast.

As breakfast comes to an end, >> When you getting that pork butt going?

>> Uh in a couple minutes.

>> Are you guys starting lunch already?

>> Yeah.

>> There's barely a moment to rest.

Jimenez must quickly shift gears

and start preparing lunch to make sure he can feed 150 crew members.

>> Time is like pretty irrelevant here on the sub cuz we're just working

by hours.

It's 12 hours on, 12 hours off.

And then once we get off,

>> >> it's either go have fun or go straight to the straight to bed.

This is about to be the pulled pork.

I'm putting the meat into the mixer along with the juices.

It was boiling to shred the pork rather than me taking a long time

by hand.

The quicker you get it done, the less you got to worry about.

But you still got a time management to the meal hour,

that way it doesn't just sit on the line for a very long time

because that becomes a bad thing.

>> Meal today is the house pulled pork,

pulled pork mac and cheese and corn chowder.

It's actually one of my favorite things to make.

Out of all of them,

uh the mac cheese is probably my favorite thing to make.

>> I'm going to have to go to Milly with his mac and cheese.

Sometime he would like make his favorite, which is spicy mac and cheese.

Really spicy for some reason.

I feel like he puts like ghost pepper hot sauce in there or something.

But, uh, I don't know.

It's good.

I'm about to make some hot roll dough

and turn them into like buns from scratch.

>> How many rolls do you have to make?

>> I'm going to get at least around 100 and 120.

>> How many do you have so far?

>> Woo, I'll say about probably 80. 120 were last made throughout the meal

and then it showed me

that I have at least a little bit left over.

That's what I'm going for, that way I don't run out.

>> Is it a little more salt?

Do you have a potato in >> No, we don't have potato.

>> Will it be hot?

>> Uh, I don't >> Nice.

>> Please don't put a lot in there.

>> No, I won't.

I like that deep one outside of this.

That's definitely on the front side.

Yeah, can you get like a little more salt?

That should be good.

>> As the lunch hour nears, the ward room is prepared.

A space designated for the ship's officers.

>> There's significantly less officers on board a submarine than there are enlisted.

Uh, so they get their own room.

>> For lunch today we have pulled pork, mac and cheese, cauliflower, and green beans.

>> Very good, thank you.

>> Typically used for work, relaxation, and socializing,

the ward room becomes a dining room during mealtimes.

>> For the officers, this is their place to come and eat.

The family style meal serving that happens in the wardroom is very history rich.

>> While the dinner service is a privilege for the officers aboard,

it's not uncommon for them to join the crew in the crew's mess.

>> Boat board.

Macaroni.

>> Mhm.

>> I like when you put them together.

>> Mhm.

Got to.

>> That was boat day.

>> Mac and cheese is always the bomb.

I love boat board.

>> I like the mac and cheese, the boat board, and >> Before returning to sea,

the USS South Dakota will undergo thorough maintenance, followed by sea certification,

a process that tests both the crew

and the submarine to ensure all systems are fully operational for the next deployment.

>> It is exhausting, it is tiresome,

and it wears on you real quick if you let it.

But knowing that I'm able to feed people

and that they are happy with what I put out,

and they look forward to what I can bring to the table,

that that makes that makes it worth it for me.

>> Reaching Everest peak is an adventurer's holy grail,

but most can't do it without the help of experienced Sherpa guides.

It's a dangerous profession on the verge of disappearing.

A small shift of this ladder can turn catastrophic in a matter of seconds.

Navigating this path safely is the responsibility of Everest climbing guides,

many of whom are ethnic Sherpas who earn $4 to $10,000 per climb.

But usually, these guides can count on only one expedition per year.

The job is one of the most dangerous in the world.

>> I would say my daughter

and your your your

And while 2023 saw the most climbers on record,

it also saw the most deaths. 332 people have been lost to Everest in

the last century.

Over a third of them were mountain guides.

It's 2:00 a.m. at base camp,

and Furba Wangchu Sherpa is leading a team of guides

and climbers up the world's tallest mountain.

>> >> Furba Wangchu has touched Everest's peak 14 times already.

>> >> He begins every climb with a puja ceremony,

praying for safe passage and paying respect to the mountain.

Even with his success rate, he never underestimates the deadly risks.

Over the next several weeks,

this group of 16 will climb for hours on end in total darkness,

face the threat of avalanches and storms, and cross deadly passageways.

Purba Wangchu and his team of experienced guides are their best chance of making

it to the summit

and surviving.

>> It gives you a lot of confidence.

You know, when your Sherpa has 15, 16 summits,

like some of these Sherpas here,

when you're at high altitude and you're in those situations, and they tell you,

you know, it's okay, it's going to be okay,

it's very reassuring that they've summited so many times.

>> It's more than just mentally reassuring.

On the mountain, the choices guides make directly affect whether a climber lives.

The next morning, another group of climbers is gearing up for its expedition.

>> It takes a bit of time not to put it,

but it's safety of foot on the minus 30 or 50 sometimes.

>> Near base camp at 5,364 m, climbing guides lead a vital training course.

Without this refresher, climbers won't know how to work with their specific expedition team.

The guides are using the limited time they have today to review how best

to handle steep inclines

and to teach this team how to problem-solve on the spot.

>> Sorry.

>> Yeah.

>> The course is one of the services included in a mountain guide's cost.

Guides only work with experienced high-altitude mountaineers, a requirement of the Nepalese government.

But that doesn't mean the climbers are ready to brave Everest's extreme climate yet.

>> I think if you are talking about high-altitude mountaineering,

it's important to do this, you know, at least every 6 months.

It keeps your body ready for, I think, lack of oxygen.

I came here by helicopter,

which is not probably it was not the best idea.

So, the first stage was quite hard.

>> It'll be Ismail's second attempt at summiting Everest.

He confronted the danger that awaits his new team over a decade ago.

>> We almost reached 8,500, but because of the very unfavorable weather conditions,

had to return.

So, the summit was very close.

So, after 11 years, I'm back.

>> Ismail averted catastrophe in his first summit attempt, but not everyone is so lucky.

When climbers are critically injured,

guides have to be prepared to switch an expedition to a rescue

and provide emergency relief.

In May 2023, a team of Sherpa guides rescued a climber from Everest's death

zone.

Over the course of 6 hours,

the guides carried him on their backs down to camp three.

Since the 2019 season, as a safety measure,

Nepal has required every climber to be accompanied by at least one climbing guide.

And choosing a local guide has its distinct benefits on Everest.

Many of these mountain guides are Sherpas,

an ethnic group natives to the slopes of Mount Everest.

>> The conquering team was composed of 20 Americans >> >> aided by Sherpa

tribesmen who acted as carriers.

>> Though the term Sherpa is informally used as a catchall for Everest guides,

the Sherpa people have been closely involved in mountaineering here since the very first

Everest expeditions.

Their tissues use oxygen more efficiently

and preserve muscle energy better than people from lowlands.

That's one of the reasons Sherpa guides can assist their climbers with heavy loads

without risking as much physical strain.

>> I've got a very good Sherpa, um, you know, and he carries he carries,

um, a lot.

So, about 10 kg I would carry, but they would carry three times that.

>> And it's indispensable, especially here at the Khumbu Icefall,

where three Sherpas lost their lives in 2023.

At an elevation of 5,486 m,

the team slowly makes its way through shifting glaciers.

>> The group is also relying on the work

that locals known as icefall doctors did months earlier.

These specialized climbers establish the safest route to the top of Everest every season.

A separate fee of $600 per expedition member goes to these icefall doctors to

use the ladders and ropes they set up.

But even with a clear path,

climbers are still in danger of crevasses opening and closing and even unexpected avalanches.

>> >> Considering the danger, it's no surprise

that mountain guides are one of the biggest expenses in summiting Everest.

Climbers pay as much

as $100,000 for the expedition

and a chance at standing at the top of the world.

For each of these climbs,

guides certified by the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations can charge agencies $10,000.

Less experienced climbing guides make only $4,000 per climb.

The agency Furba Wangchu works with, Makalu Adventure,

says it pays guides an additional $1,500 for every successful summit.

>> I think it's okay for for what it is.

Um it's okay and you know,

the Nepalese government have to make money from it.

The sherpas have to have to make money and you know,

it would be an insult, I think,

if we we just come

and and pay hardly anything

and and summit the mountain.

>> The majority of summits occur in the spring season.

So, most guides are hired for only one expedition, limiting their yearly income.

Furba Wangchu says guides don't see enough money to justify continuously risking their lives.

>> The Himalayan terrain is so steep though.

The person that I'm going to climb up is

so above above the lower part of the journey is

so I'm going to buy

but I'm going to go above just go above the river

but I'm going to go above the river

but I'm going to go above the river.

Above the lower part of the journey is

so I'm going to buy

but I'm going above the lower part of the journey is

so I'm going to buy

but I'm going to go above the >> Guides also have to pay for

their own gear,

an investment of as much as $7,000.

That includes clothing, boots, and backpacks that must withstand extreme conditions on the mountain.

The down suit alone can cost $2,000

and some gear needs to be replaced every few years.

Often times, working as a guide in the increasingly commercialized Everest industry comes out

of necessity.

>> Above the mountain terrain is

so above the lower part of the journey is

so I'm going to buy

but above the lower part of the journey is

so I'm going to above the lower part of the journey is

so I'm going to buy

but I'm going to go above the river.

Above the lower part of the journey is

so I'm going to above the lower above the lower part of the journey

is so I'm going to buy

but I'm going above the lower part of the journey is

so I'm going to buy

but I'm going to go above the river

but I'm going to go above the river

but I'm going >> Despite of flood,

Furba Wangchu takes on other work.

This is common for many local guides who struggle to make ends meet from

a job that routinely puts their life in danger.

>> >> That's one of the reasons Dawa Geljen Sherpa quit his career

as a climbing guide.

Like Dawa Geljen, Furba Wangchu openly questions whether the risks are really worth it.

And he thinks it's a question more Sherpa guides will ask.

If Furba Wangchu is right,

a declining number of expert mountain guides will coincide with the growing Everest tourism

industry.

In spring 2023, Nepal issued a record number of 478 permits to summit Mount

Everest.

This broke the record set 2 years earlier when it issued 409 permits.

But as the industry grows, so too does the frequency of fatalities.

Spring 2023 saw 18 deaths, 15 confirmed and three presumed,

making it the deadliest season for climbers on Everest.

Six of those lost were Sherpa guides.

At the same time,

Nepal is seeing a growing job market with locals increasingly choosing other professions.

>> >> The rising death toll on Everest has put more pressure on the

Nepalese government to manage tourism on the mountain.

In 2025, it plans to increase the price of climbing permits for foreigners to

$15,000,

up from $11,000.

The government says the salaries of high-altitude guides and workers will also increase.

This could be a beacon of hope for some younger locals who still see

a future in being a mountain guide,

like Shashank and Tsering Rai.

>> Climber only.

Climber.

I saw learning beside >> this way.

>> Unlike Furba Wangchu, Sushant is able to pursue his education.

Still, the mountain compels him.

But the truth is that the future for guides on Everest is unclear.

>> The craftsmen at this factory supply the world's top ballerinas with one of

their most important pieces of equipment,

their shoes.

This is how a professional ballerina customizes her pointe shoes for a show.

>> Destroy them basically.

To everybody else, it looks like we're destroying them.

Just banging it out a little bit.

It's actually kind of fun.

I enjoy it kind of.

>> But after just one day of rehearsing and performing leaps, turns, and pirouettes,

the shoes will be completely unusable.

>> This is a used shoe.

>> That's why New York City ballet dancers go through about 7,000 pairs every

year.

And all of them come from Freed of London,

which has been one of the world's leading ballet shoe manufacturers for nearly 80

years.

>> We supply all over the world.

There really isn't a country that we don't work with in some capacity.

>> Its methods haven't changed much over the decades.

Every single shoe still has to be formed and stitched mostly by hand.

But this traditional approach makes it hard to keep up with the non-stop demand

from some of the largest ballet companies in the world.

>> We are constantly playing catch-up.

>> The New York City Ballet buys all its shoes from Freed of London,

one of the first companies to customize shoes to dancers' feet back in 1929.

>> Mr.

Freed had been a point shoe maker for another company,

and he wasn't very satisfied with how the shoes were being produced.

Before Mr.

Freed, the point shoe was very much one size, one width.

So, a dancer had to squeeze their foot into it.

And he came up with this concept, which seems so normal today,

of making different width fittings.

>> They all start with stapling a leather sole to a mold.

>> And this is where the consistency comes in here.

Just make sure they're all the same.

>> Shoemakers like Alan Doherty make custom shoes for specific dancers.

He's currently assigned to more than 600 ballerinas.

>> He is really one of our most popular makers.

>> But the factory only has 24 shoemakers who make customs,

and they supply some of the largest ballet companies in the world,

including the Royal Ballet in London, the American Ballet Theatre,

and the Paris Opera Ballet.

>> We are constantly playing catch up.

Many of our pointe shoe makers,

their work schedule is booked right through to the end of 2026.

When a maker retires,

um we start planning nearly 2 years in advance where we start to look

at what other makers um are similar in their characteristic of shoe

and looking at how we can transfer

and move dancers from one maker to the other.

>> Still, Freed manages to pump out about 2,500 pairs a week.

Most of the process is done by hand.

>> Now, here comes the messy bit.

>> >> The founder of the company, Frederick Freed himself,

created the paste that makes up the box, which the company keeps secret.

>> It's specially with flour and water and a few secret ingredients,

which I'm not allowed to tell you.

It's like putting your hand in porridge.

>> The paste is what makes the shoes so malleable,

adapting to the exact shape of a dancer's foot,

but it's also why they wear out so quickly.

Alan can make 34 pairs in a single day.

>> So, everyone makes different amounts.

Um some make 28, some make 30, some make 32.

Others make 34, one does 41.

>> Putting in the pleats is the hardest and most crucial step.

>> What does this consist of?

It's twist and pull.

That's what gives them the strength, the pleats.

We try and be precise as best we can.

It is a handmade job, so it can't be perfect all the time.

Now, they're ready for stitching.

>> Sewing and stitching are the only steps where they use machines.

>> Most of our competitors have now closed their home

or native production and moved offshore

and gone into a much more automated sort of machine-made approach.

But, we still are true to the beginning idea, which is hand-making shoes,

>> >> bespoke-ing shoes, giving the dancer what they need.

>> Once the shoes are made, they have to be maintained and fitted,

and that's where the dance company's shoe department comes in.

The New York City Ballet spends nearly a million dollars a year buying pointe

shoes for its dancers.

And Daniel Wong is the only one keeping track of them all.

>> Right now, I have about 9,000 pairs of shoes in this room.

>> A pointe shoe has three main sections: the box, the vamp, and the shank.

Also known as the sole.

The box is what makes a pointe shoe, well, a pointe shoe.

It helps create the illusion of a dancer being on the very tip of

their toes.

>> This has a platform right here that the dancer can stand on.

>> The vamp covers and supports the toes as they bend.

>> The measurement has to be very precise,

so that it doesn't get in the way.

>> The shank supports the dancer's arch while on pointe.

>> Strength of the shank can be different depending on what the dancer wants.

So, really, every single piece of the shoe can be customized.

>> While a dancer is on pointe,

the pressure on their feet and ankles feels like 12 times their weight.

So, if the fit of the shoe is even a little bit off,

it could be dangerous.

>> You can injure yourself if you're not wearing the right shoe.

You can injure yourself if a shoe is too soft for your foot.

So, it's just important to find, you know,

a shoe that fits you really well.

>> Hello.

Hello.

Hi.

How are you?

>> Good.

How are you?

>> I'm good.

>> Dancers have preferences.

My job is to make sure that they have shoes that they're comfortable with,

but also don't get them injured.

>> Which one should we start with?

>> We're going to do a 4 and 1/2.

You pin Does the heel secure?

>> I wouldn't mind raising it.

I wouldn't say no to that.

Wow.

See, I like that.

That's so much more comfortable.

>> Okay.

>> Finding the perfect fit can take years,

and dancers go through many trial pairs before landing on the right ones.

>> Oh, yeah.

That's so much better.

>> It's so much better, and I feel better in them.

>> You can kind of see there's like a 90° angle.

I don't know how to show it, but there's like a 90° angle.

That's like one of the customizations that I really like,

just cuz standing on it

and then rolling up to point is feels a lot better.

I've already had a few customs come in with these specs,

meaning like the size and how short I wanted it.

>> Which one is that?

>> This is without cutting it.

This is the 4 and 1/2. >> 4 and 1/2,

but the but the >> But this trial pair still isn't perfect.

>> If I can do this, it's a little bit too loose.

She'll be able to wear them, but you know,

they're not they're not the best.

It's not the best fit.

>> >> For brands to stand out, color is key.

And to get an exact match every time,

companies need printers and ink mixers who rely on Pantone guides.

For printers, Pantone is a fact of life.

>> The whole 38 years I've been here, we've been using Pantone.

If we went away from Pantone, a lot of our higher end clients,

I don't think they would want to do business with us anymore.

>> Kevin uses Pantone guides to verify that printed colors match client orders.

>> If they have a book and they pick the color,

then we have our book and we know exactly what they want.

They're one of our most valuable tools that we have in in industry.

>> Allied Printing mixes each Pantone color in-house using a set of base inks.

>> If you mix to the formula, you're getting the Pantone color.

Where if you're just shooting in the dark,

you could be mixing ink all day long.

>> Anthony is Allied Printing's resident ink mixer.

>> Just go to page 65, find your color.

This is 711 right here.

So, we want a 6-pounder.

Usually I do my 6-pounders in a 1-gallon.

This fits up to like 8 lb.

This is my recipe right here.

So, I have transparent white, which is clear.

We have yellow.

We have warm red.

This one calls for 4.6 lb.

And then we have black.

All right.

So, that's the last ingredient.

Ready to throw it on the mixer.

>> But Allied Printing doesn't buy ink from Pantone.

It works with a licensed manufacturer.

And to access color formulas,

Anthony uses third-party software that's again licensed by Pantone.

The only thing Allied Printing buys from Pantone are the guidebooks.

After mixing, Anthony tests every batch to ensure it's consistent.

>> I'll put down my sample first, and then this is my batch.

>> >> Draw it down.

There's your color.

It looks good.

The formula looks good, and that's it.

That's a typical ink order fulfilled.

>> Because Pantone colors are pre-mixed from 11 base inks.

They look brighter and cleaner compared to CMYK, which uses just four colors.

>> Pantone has a huge gamut of colors

that you'll never be able to achieve with CMYK.

You can try to imitate Pantone colors through four-color process,

but in my opinion, you never do.

They get dingy and dirty.

>> CMYK is useful for something like this photo with hundreds of slightly different

colors and shades.

Pantone excels when you need one solid color to look exactly the same every

time it's printed,

like with a logo or a brand color.

>> We could run a part of a project here in Connecticut

and someone else could run part of a project in California,

and if you're running Pantone, they're going to match.

>> But depending on what you're printing, Pantone is often more expensive.

Besides the effort of mixing colors,

Kevin says the ink itself costs about 15 to 25% more than CMYK.

>> Some of our customers don't care about price.

A lot of big corporations, if that's their corporate color,

they want their corporate color to be perfect.

>> Over in Louisiana, shrimpers are an important part of the state's history.

Shrimp is the most consumed seafood in the United States, and in Louisiana,

it's big business.

>> >> The wild caught crustaceans bring in about $1.3 billion for the state

every year.

But for the last few years,

shrimpers have been hit with a perfect storm of rising fuel costs

and rock-bottom prices.

>> That's one of the toughest jobs you could ever do.

And if you're not getting your dues for it, why do it?

>> Producers say a flood of cheaper imported shrimp from India

and Ecuador is sinking Louisiana's industry.

But, there's no way to feed America's skyrocketing demand without imports,

which make up 90% of the shrimp the US consumes.

Up against these headwinds,

companies up and down Louisiana's supply chain are closing up shop.

>> If you worked hard and you did the right thing,

you could become a millionaire in the '80s and the '90s.

Now, you can barely make a living.

>> So, how did the industry get this bad?

And is it too late to save it?

Kristen Balmer is one of the few processors left in the area who only

works with Gulf shrimp.

Just like his family has for over 130 years.

>> We've definitely seen a lot of processors go out of business.

It's become more of a volume game because the margins are so tight.

>> His company processes 30 million pounds of shrimp annually.

>> So, what we're doing is easy peeling shrimp.

We're hand-feeding it into a machine

that puts a and

that splits the back of the shell,

cuts the shell open,

and then it allows

when you cook it more flavor to get into the shrimp

as well as making it easier to peel.

>> Kristen's team flash freezes all the crustaceans in this room.

That's how they're able to transport the shrimp all over the country.

>> So, they're cooking shrimp for the second time to make sure they get

all the defects out of it before it goes up.

>> This shaker separates the pieces so they won't stick together when they're frozen.

Then they take a trip down this tunnel at minus 400° Fahrenheit.

>> And after the shrimp it gets the liquid nitrogen it forms a crystal

on the shrimp and

then it moves slowly through the belt to freeze from the outside in.

Don't stick your finger in unless you have a warrant

that you want to burn off.

>> This machine portions the seafood into 5-lb bags of about 15 pieces.

Each bag gets a traceability barcode.

>> Link it all the way back to the shrimp dock that it came from.

>> This processed product comes out to anywhere from 7 to $10 a pound,

depending on the season.

>> With inflation, everything is getting more and more expensive,

and running these processing plants

and all this movement of equipment

and avoiding breakdowns takes a lot of capital.

>> >> Meanwhile, shrimpers like Captain Lonnie Mayeux Jr. are facing skyrocketing costs of

operating a boat.

>> You're wasting fuel and ice if you don't catch anything.

>> Since the 1980s, he says a block of ice has gone from $14

to $26 today.

A set of new nets more than doubled,

and a gallon of gas more than tripled in price.

At 82 years old, Lonnie, who goes by Knuckles,

hasn't given up trawling these waters even after six decades.

Starting in May, he heads out to catch brown shrimp, usually around sunset.

>> You have to go uh do your homework and so,

and know where they're going to be at.

>> He works independently, like most of the shrimpers here.

>> Right about there.

Uh a little too far.

>> During the day, brown shrimp may bury themselves in the sediment to hide

from predators.

But after dark, they often come out and roam in shallow water.

Knuckles and his deckhand Steve drop these nets

that skim the top of the water.

>> We're not dragging anything on the bottom.

>> He positions himself against the current, so the shrimp flow right into his nets.

>> The shrimp are not like fish.

They can't really swim that great.

They take the They take a ride on the current.

>> Knuckles and Steve will pick out and keep just the shrimp.

Sea turtles have an escape hatch in the net,

and other animals get thrown back into the sea.

Where some dolphins are waiting to chow down on them.

>> If we don't pick up in that favor often enough,

they'll take and bite it out of the net.

>> They can literally rip a a 4-ft hole in it,

which is going to take a lot of time to fix.

>> Like this one, Knuckles pulls up the net so he can sew it closed.

>> You're going to lose everything.

You know?

You're going to be working for literally nothing.

>> This work can be grueling.

Some shrimpers have big enough vessels,

they can stay out for weeks at a time.

Knuckles has a smaller boat, so he fishes just until morning.

>> Well, it keeps you in shape.

>> But even after all this work,

there's a chance they could have a bad run.

Tonight, most of the nets were full of catfish.

>> Ooh, catfish.

>> See the belly?

It's full of shrimp.

>> Full of shrimp.

They went in the net, ate all the shrimp.

And you got a pound of shrimp, it's all catfish.

I'm going to try pushing up going a little further up in the lake

or something.

>> Knuckles spent $45,000 buying and fixing up his boat.

It was meant to be his ticket to retirement.

But now he's unsure that plan will work.

>> You know, for me to get out of the business,

I got to sell it.

I got no retirement.

But I can't sell a boat.

Can't give it away.

Nobody wants it.

>> And most shrimpers agree, it's getting harder to justify going out.

>> When this boat leaves the dock, it's going to cost me over $1,000.

It's killing us.

The farmers, it's killing us.

>> Right now, nobody want to do it no more because they're struggling.

>> Molena Chee has been fishing for 8 years.

>> >> Like 60% of the state's shrimp boat owners,

she and her husband are originally from Southeast Asia.

>> With our education, there's nothing else we could do besides fishermen,

especially like me and my husband like in our mid-50s.

>> Milena and her husband weren't able to go to college,

but they hope shrimping would help their kids do the opposite.

>> Not enough to pay, especially when you have two kids in college.

You're struggling.

>> >> Dock owners are feeling the impact, too.

>> Cuz if we don't bring no shrimp, they don't make no money, either.

You know, when the shrimp boat go out, they're going to kill the docks,

too.

That's a pretty shrimp.

>> Dean Blanchard's family has been buying and selling local shrimp for five generations.

>> Uh I was born in a shrimp dock.

When I was a baby, they used to put me in a shrimp box.

>> His dock, 2 hours south of New Orleans,

was once one of the biggest shrimp suppliers in the country.

But last year, he paid the lowest prices he ever has for the larger

shrimp. >> 30 some years ago,

they went down from $5 to $1.30.

>> That's because he's selling it for so little to the peeling factories.

>> Right now, the cheapest I've ever seen in my life.

I'm sick to my stomach.

I ain't never seen nothing like this.

Never.

Never in my life seen it this bad.

>> After six decades in the industry, Dean's no stranger to financial challenges.

From the 2010 BP oil spill to big storms.

His dock had $2 million in damages after Hurricane Ida hit in 2021.

>> Yeah, where you standing right there wasn't even there after the storm.

I mean, I've rebuilt this building at least eight, nine times.

>> He never fixed up this part of his marina.

>> Uh it brings tears to your eyes.

I mean, everything you worked for all your life is gone.

>> But imports, he says, done even more damage.

>> We're directly correlated with imports.

If a completely processed product is coming in for just over $4 a pound,

uh that means our dockside prices have to be lower,

the processors prices are lower.

So, to be able to try to get that market share and keep it.

So, you're making the same amount of money that you would in 2000,

but 22 years later.

>> Fewer boats can afford to go out,

so less shrimp is landing on Dean's dock.

>> We're down to right under 20% of what we normally are for this

time of the year.

>> On this day we visited in May 2023,

not a single shrimp boat pulled up to unload.

>> It ain't going to last too much longer like this.

Thank God I'm almost 65 years old

and I ain't got no kids in this business.

>> Dean estimates that 96% of the docks operating

when he started out have since closed down.

>> I feel bad for the people because I know once I'm gone,

they're going to have to drive 50, 60,

70 miles to go sell their product.

>> Just like Knuckles, when Dean retires, he doesn't think anyone will buy the company.

>> Nobody can afford to take it over.

The property is worth more than the business.

>> >> The workers here use some of the finest pigments in the world

to create colored pencils

that can cost around $350 a set.

>> Every colored pencil starts off like this, bright, powdery pigment.

But, it's the secret recipe for transforming these pigments into colorful cores

that sets professional pencils apart from student grade ones.

Every ingredient, from pigments to waxes and oils,

and even the wood is carefully chosen to make these pencils perform better on

paper.

And artists are often willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for this level

of performance.

At Faber-Castell's factory in Stein, Germany,

workers churn out a whopping 2.3 billion pencils a year.

Making them takes a surprising amount of precision.

Starting with these, the pigments.

Just like people, the particles of each pigment have their own distinct personality

and behavior.

Some are rough and edgy and scratch across the paper,

while others are smooth and silky.

But size also matters, down to the micrometer.

Faber-Castell says ideally,

90% of the pigment particles should have a diameter of less than 40 micrometers.

It says this is perfect for creating a core with a consistent texture

and vibrant color that applies smoothly.

Balancing the pigments' behavior requires adjusting the other ingredients.

Unlike cheaper alternatives, professional colored pencils have a lot more pigment than filler,

so it's important that the balance of ingredients is just right.

The ingredients are top secret, but Gerold Luga, a chemist at Faber-Castell,

told Business Insider it's a specific combination of oils, waxes,

and fillers that binds the pigments.

The result is this mixture, dough-like clumps of color.

But each color has a bespoke formula because not all pigments are created equal.

After the mysterious blend of waxes, oils, and fillers is mixed with the pigment,

it's pushed through this high-pressure machine.

The result, identical pencil length cylindrical cores.

Workers bake the cores in batches to harden them.

Then, they dip the dry cores in a melted mixture of waxes

and fatty acid derivatives.

Faber-Castell's colored pencil cores are 3.8 mm in diameter,

making them less likely to break compared to Crayola's 3.3 mm cores.

The company randomly tests cores from each batch to make sure they won't break

under pressure.

Quality testers apply pressure to the cores at a 60° angle.

They shouldn't break until the force is at least 3.3 kg.

The core's performance is also scrutinized with smear tests like this one.

>> >> Pencil cores made by different brands each have their own characteristics.

The wax base of Caran d'Ache's Luminance pencils is soft,

so the color melts into the paper.

That makes them great for creating gradients.

Faber-Castell's colored pencils, on the other hand, have a harder core,

so they're best for fine lines and realistic details.

Even the wood encasing the cores of professional-grade pencils is carefully considered.

A pencil's wood determines how long the pencil will last

and how well it will sharpen.

At the factory, the cedar is cut into planks,

which are stored for months until they're dry.

Grooves are milled into the wood and the cores are slotted into the planks.

Another identical plank is glued on top

and they're pressed together before the next machine cuts them into perfect pencils.

But the pencils shouldn't just perform well, they must also look and feel expensive.

Workers mix dyes to the exact color of the cores to create a water-based

varnish for the outside of the pencils.

Another machine coats each pencil with this varnish.

The pencils are then stamped with a company's branding

and the end caps are dipped again,

rounding out the top of the pencil.

Every step of the way,

the pencils are checked for visual defects like chips and varnish irregularities,

and the faulty ones are removed.

The longevity of a color is known as its light fastness.

Faber-Castell uses a star rating where three stars means the color will be preserved

with little or no fading for 100 years in museum-like conditions.

Almost all of the colored pencils the company offers in its professional lines are

three stars.

Each color receives a rating through a specialized light fastness test.

>> >> At the world's largest truck stop, there's no shortage of jobs,

which is why Iowa 80 is dubbed the Disney World for truckers.

This kitchen feeds the world's largest truck stop.

Chefs sling out 350,000 meals a year.

Iowa 80 covers over 150 football fields.

It's one of the last major US truck stops that's independently owned and thriving.

Truckers come from all over for its movie theater, truck wash, chiropractor, dentist,

and 900 parking spots for semi's alone.

>> It is impossible to find a place to park in other truck stops.

There's always spaces to park here.

>> But most of America's mom-and-pop truck stops are gone

or barely hanging on.

>> So this is what truck stops used to look like.

It has a gas station, a cafe, and lodging.

>> Reed and Island Corner in Colo,

Iowa is one of America's last remaining one stops from the early 1900s.

It sits at the intersection of two of America's first cross-country highways,

Route 30, which carried travelers through small towns like Colo.

>> They're so vital to our community and our state.

>> But when the interstate carved new paths around Colo,

the once constant flow of travelers disappeared.

Now a few people from the town are trying to save it.

>> We don't have any money.

We're starting with zero.

>> So how did American truck stops go from this to this?

And as more professional drivers hit the road, why are truck stops so important?

The Iowa 80 kitchen runs 24/7, 365 days a year.

I got there around 8:00 a.m. on a Friday,

just in time for the morning rush.

Chefs were slinging out pancakes and French toast to order,

making all the food for the 50-ft buffet, and working the omelet bar.

>> There's a lot of calling out to each other.

Kind of like a rhythmic dance or something like that.

>> They're expecting 600 people today.

So, chefs tackle prep for lunch and dinner early in the morning, too.

>> When we're, you know, full steam, we'll have 20 workers probably today.

>> Bacon is the first thing to hit the ovens.

>> We usually prep up about 60 lbs of bacon for the day.

>> Since opening 61 years ago,

Iowa 80 Kitchen has served up to 23 million eggs.

Scrambled eggs for the buffet arrive frozen.

Chefs defrost the bags

and drop them in a vat of hot water to steam.

>> And then we just beat them up with the whisk

and then we serve them.

>> Head chef Rick Denney plans out how much food the team will make

depending on the day

and season.

>> How are you related to the family?

>> I'm not related at all.

I've tried marrying in a few times, but they won't let me.

Uh, this is >> My grandfather was the original owner of the restaurant.

>> Chris Honn still uses her grandfather's recipe for meatloaf, a crowd favorite.

She chops onions and celery

and dumps in spices

and tomato sauce for the base of the meatloaf.

>> We got 90 lbs of ground beef here.

The three main components are the beef, the mixture there, and then the breadcrumbs.

How many years has this been used?

>> 40. >> 40 years?

Yep.

>> This mixer is older than I am.

>> This is enough meatloaf to last two to three days.

So, chefs portion it into tubs.

>> So, this won't get baked until probably tomorrow.

We bake uh two off a day.

>> For Iowa 80 Kitchen size, chefs make a surprising amount from scratch.

Like their ranch dressing.

>> >> With 6 gallons of buttermilk, 60 lbs of mayo,

and nine packets of ranch seasoning. >> to try spreading it around.

>> Iowa 80 staff also hand-bread and dunk their fried chicken,

one of the most popular dishes.

Come 11:00 a.m., they flip the buffet over to lunch.

Most of the people who stop in to eat are professional drivers who spend

months at a time on the road.

>> They enjoy being able to come in and get, you know,

a a home-cooked meal.

>> It's tiring.

We drive 11 hours a day, have a 70-hour work week,

and I always stop here because I like to shop,

I like the food court.

It's one of my favorite truck stops.

>> A lot of people eat three decent meals a day.

Well, we're lucky to get one.

>> Jerry Lenander has been driving a truck for nearly 50 years.

>> Highway 80 is the real deal.

I mean, you can sit down for a home-cooked hamburger steak meal.

>> But there's a lot more than food here.

>> We have movie theater, we have a driver lounge that has a big TV.

>> We toured the space with Lee Meyer, the founder's granddaughter,

and the third generation working here.

>> Our philosophy is that when our customers are at home,

they should be with their family, not running all these errands or doing laundry,

getting a haircut, things like that.

>> There's also a gym, a chapel, and 24 private showers.

There's even a dentist on site.

>> If they're having an emergency on the road,

they're not going to be able to pull their truck and trailer into, like,

my dentist's office, you know, in in a town.

>> They still have the mom-and-pop feel,

and it's just it's kind of out of the norm.

>> You can get your truck washed, your dog washed, or your vehicle serviced.

>> It's a trucker's truck stop, trust me.

>> So, you said that we can Thank you.

Uh order anything all day, right?

>> Thank you.

Yes, 24 hours a day, breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

So. >> on the menu.

>> I know, it's a big menu.

>> Meaning you can get this giant breakfast plate at 3:00 p.m. like we

did.

>> Okay, so you said that this is a fan favorite.

>> Oh, yeah, the hungry man big deal.

>> People finish this?

>> I bet they do.

I don't know that I've ever seen it, but here we go.

>> Big dude is coming off a truck with a huge appetite after 10

hours of driving.

I could see this being a fan favorite, for sure.

>> Yeah.

>> Okay, I actually think I like the sausage better than I like the bacon.

The pancakes though, they're made with sweet cream instead of buttermilk

and they had the perfect amount of tang to sweetness.

That's the best thing on the table.

Because they there is a crunch.

Even with all the syrup, there's a little crunch.

But gooey in the middle.

Rivaling those pancakes was the meatloaf.

That had a lot of gravy.

Let me get a Let me get a good bite.

It feels like when you're a kid and your mom makes meatloaf.

That's not a joke.

Midwest just coziness right there.

We did come here a lot of Sundays after church with my grandparents.

So yeah, this is like home cooking for me.

>> >> Prepping footballs for NFL

and college games is a job in itself

and one that can get dirty.

>> Dan Colson's job is to break in new footballs for quarterbacks on NFL

and college teams.

He uses conditioners, heat guns, and mud from New Jersey riverbanks.

>> Getting the leather the way you want it to is an art form

in itself.

But just a few decades ago,

pro players couldn't always use these customized footballs in games.

Then in 2006, Tom Brady

and Peyton Manning helped convince the NFL to change the rules.

That inspired teams across America to start testing new ways to customize footballs, too.

But getting one ball ready can take days.

>> >> So some teams hire outside specialists like Dan.

Today, he and his wife Emily work out of their home in Bayonne,

New Jersey.

Slathering thousands of balls per season, even for the Super Bowl.

>> Smells like a swamp down here.

It's terrible.

>> So why do some teams spend tens of thousands of dollars a year

on mudded footballs?

And what does it take to get them all to the field.

Dan started Gridiron Football Prep in 2021 after losing his job at Wilson Sporting

Goods.

He's in the middle of 48 balls for Ohio State,

the country's most valuable college football program.

Worth roughly $2 billion.

>> They've really championed this process of really making a ball

that is conducive to their quarterback.

So, what we do is we'll get the ball, come over here,

get our brush that we use.

So, you want to brush in circles

because the grain of the leather might be slightly different per panel.

What you're doing is you're kind of opening the pores of the actual leather

itself.

>> Dan applies his own custom leather conditioner, which adds moisture and grip.

Then, he uses an infrared thermometer to check

when it's dried back to room temperature.

Leather balm loosens and softens the leather even more.

>> Leather balm is kind of our secret sauce, if you will.

So, as we compare brand new ball out of the box, conditioned, now balmed,

ready to be heat gunned.

>> NFL and college footballs are made from real leather.

One of the reasons they're up to 10 times more expensive than the average

ball at a sporting goods store.

Horween Leather in Chicago has made leather for nearly every NFL

and college football for the last 70 years.

>> People ask me who I'm rooting for in the Super Bowl,

and it's always the ball.

>> Skip Horween's family opened the business in 1905.

It's grown from a small shop to a company with roughly $25 million in

annual sales.

Horween's leather comes from the hides of steers,

which are male cattle raised for beef.

These hides are stronger and more flexible than the ones from other cattle,

so they can withstand tough conditions on football field.

>> >> We pay a premium for them, and it's worth it.

>> Roughly 2,500 hides arrive every day from Iowa and Canada.

Employees grade each one on a scale of 1 to 10.

The lower the number, the better the quality.

Only grades 1, 2, and 3 are used for footballs.

>> This particular skin has a bunch of fairly heavy scratches on it,

and that would not be suitable for top-grade football skin.

>> Then they throw the hides into drums filled with tree bark extract, oil,

and waxes.

This transforms them into leather.

Next, a machine squeezes out excess moisture.

Then workers throw the hides onto glass panels for 4 hours to dry.

>> So this whole thing is a giant hot air dryer.

>> Next is the embossing phase, which gives the football its texture.

A metal press stamps each hide with up to 1,000 tons of pressure,

so the pebbles don't fade over time.

Horween makes eight kinds of football leather and another for NBA basketballs.

>> Football is is the grippier of the two again

because you've got your skill players

that need to be able to handle the ball,

whether it's catching, throwing, snapping, or kicking.

>> Workers spray each hide with up to five coats of dye to give

it a slick finish.

>> All of the football companies we work with have slightly different pattern

and slightly different finishes.

>> Horween ships about 250,000 sheets of finished leather a year, also called sides.

Skip says sales are strong now,

but he lost some clients over the years

as cheaper synthetic leather became more popular.

Fake leather is a $39 billion industry

and expected to nearly double in the next decade.

>> A lot of those retail balls were leather at one time,

but almost entirely synthetic now.

>> Skip says making leather for different industries helps Horween survive tough times.

>> This might be football leather today

and shoe leather tomorrow

and jacket leather the next day.

Not an easy business, look, none of them really are,

but the idea that I can turn on a game

and see something that I had a small part in making,

I just get a kick out of it at to this day.

>> Skip delivers leather once a week to Big Game,

a company in Texas

that makes nearly all the footballs for America's best college programs

and 3,000 high schools.

>> Welcome to the football wonderland.

>> Chris Calandro founded the company in 1993.

>> I'm a nutty professor type

and the things that we can change with a football is really limited your

imagination.

Very few teams in college football

and high school football use exactly the same spec

that we build.

>> Even the best cuts of Horween leather have small defects.

So, Big Game starts by cutting around them.

>> We don't want to build a football

and get to the end of the line

and realize it's got an imperfection on it,

then we pretty much kill the football.

>> Then workers cut it into four panels,

which will form the outer layer of the ball.

>> These are now married together forever.

>> Unlike NFL teams, colleges are allowed to use different sized footballs.

>> >> Big Game makes them in three different dimensions, depending on the player they're for.

>> So, we build things on the larger side if you're a 6'5 pocket passer,

or if you're a you know, 5'10 dual threat player,

we might have a smaller ball for you.

Even at this early stage,

there's already been two major customizations from the quarterback to what size the ball

is going to be,

and the leather that the quarterback chose.

>> Then they add team logos,

usually by stamping a metal press on a heated piece of metal foil.

After some extra fabric and stitching, panels are done.

But right now the football is inside out,

and it has to be flipped around by hand.

>> If you do it the wrong way, you damage the ball.

Rodney's doing an outstanding job.

It is a as much about technique as it is about strength.

I recently beat Rodney in an arm wrestling contest.

>> Laces come in multiple textures, and have to be added by hand, too.

>> Some are kind of have this rubbery feel,

some are sort of have a suede leathery feel.

It is, I think probably the one thing that quarterbacks are most passionate about,

um is the way the laces feel.

>> Eventually, workers stick the football into a wooden mold,

where a computerized pump inflates it.

>> And we're using more pressure than is allowed

so that we can push out all those seams

and rough spots.

>> Big Game makes about a thousand balls a day,

even during the football off-season.

For $10, an employee will spend a few hours conditioning a ball to make