Vegetarianism of the 1860s Spawned Breakfast Cereals of Today

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http://www.sltribune.com/2001/jul/07112001/wednesda/112665.htm

 

Vegetarianism of the 1860s Spawned Breakfast Cereals of Today

Wednesday, July 11, 2001

 

 

BY NICHOLAS JOHNSTON

THE WASHINGTON POST

 

Are you eating breakfast as you read this? If you are, you're probably

eating cereal. But 150 years ago, what Americans ate for breakfast didn't

come out of a brightly colored box decorated with grinning cartoon

characters. It came off of a pig. Or a cow. Or out of a chicken.

In the 19th century, Americans ate breakfasts that were heavy on the

meat and light on grains and fiber.

Backers of more healthy foods eventually began pushing for Americans to

eat better, and in 1863 America got its first breakfast cereal. Called

Granula, it was heavy nuggets made from bran, the outer husk of a grain that

is removed when making flour. The cereal had to be soaked overnight before

eating. Apparently, just pouring milk over it wasn't enough.

The kinds of cereal we eat today grew out of a health movement started

in the 1860s. A group of people founded a health institute in Battle Creek,

Mich., that followed the vegetarian beliefs of their religion, Seventh-Day

Adventism.

For breakfast, patients received thin, baked dough. That caught the eyes

of two men, C.W. Post and W.K. Kellogg, who both saw a business opportunity

in a tasty, ready-to-eat morning meal. They started their own companies --

named after themselves -- and changed the way Americans ate breakfast.

In 1895, Post developed Postum, a hot drink made of cereal. Two years

later he invented Grape Nuts, which you can still buy.

Kellogg developed his first cereal in 1906: Kellogg's Toasted Corn

Flakes.

The third large breakfast cereal producer is General Mills. In 1924 it

unveiled Wheaties.

Most of the early cereals were just flat flakes. But in 1937 General

Mills invented the " puffing gun. " It heated grains such as rice until they

puffed up into crunchy little balls. The first puffed cereal was Kix.

Cereals also can be shredded (like Shredded Wheat) or extruded (into

pellets, like Cap'n Crunch).

In the mid-1950s, cereal manufacturers found new customers: kids. They

added sugar to cereal, put prizes in the boxes and developed cartoon

characters such as the Trix Rabbit and Tony the Tiger.

Some of the oldest cereal characters are the Rice Krispies elves --

Snap, Crackle and Pop. Snap worked by himself when he was put on the box in

1933. Crackle and Pop joined him a few years later.

 

 

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Forwarded by Vegan News Service

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and

http://www.greaterthings.com/Health/Vegan/

 

" Nothing else is to die that I might live "

-- Thomas L. Rodgers