"Let them eat cereal!"

[Guest]

I’m a Honeycombs kid! You’re missing the point; in addition to the high nutritious value in cereals like Sugar Smacks, Captain Crunch (or if you’re luck Crunch Berries), Fruity Pebbles, Coco Puffs (who isn’t kookie for those?), etc., these breakfast staples include buried treasures. Good nutrition and free toys; what’s the problem?!

[samhexum]

11 hours ago, ICTJOCK said:

While I do find it fascinating that you can now get,  like a dozen different types of "Special K",   Cheerios and other  long time cereals,   I have enough of a time even eating them at breakfast.    They don't provide enough for much of anything at breakfast to last me.     Breakfast is a very important meal  and most of these fall short.

 

10 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

Exactly.

People seem to have forgotten the history of cereal.

It was marketed in the early 1900s as a way for Midwestern farmers to sell to people in poor communities who couldn't afford a real breakfast.

Are the two of you forgetting the incredible treasure cereal is responsible for bestowing upon the world?

Had Marjorie Merriweather Post not inherited the family fortune, she would not have been able to build Mar-a-Lago.

[+ BOZO T CLOWN]

Some cereals are so delicious and nutritious, they can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. 
And the eye candy on the outside of the box is just an added bonus 🤡 🤡🤡

BTC

[+ FrankR]

3 hours ago, BOZO T CLOWN said:

Some cereals are so delicious and nutritious, they can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. 
And the eye candy on the outside of the box is just an added bonus 🤡 🤡🤡

BTC

Very few are considered nutritious - not that I would ever disagree with Bozo. The top 10 most nutritious cereals on the Mens Health list are ones I have never seen at the grocery store…with the exception of Cheerios.  They are not the ones heavily marketed and generallly available.  You can do better with plain old fashioned oats and a boiled egg. All the rest are just sugar and sodium filled junk. Despite how attractice the Count Chocula or Frosted Flakes boxes may be. 🤓

[BSR]

Every once in a great while, I buy a box of Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter which I have for dessert, a guilty pleasure that takes me back to childhood.  But I have no desire to have it, nor any other cereal, as my dinner.

I haven't bought Peanut Butter Crunch in a long time because the price jumped so much -- eek!

Edited March 3 by BSR
Typo

[Rudynate]

On 3/2/2024 at 7:26 AM, pubic_assistance said:

Exactly.

People seem to have forgotten the history of cereal.

It was marketed in the early 1900s as a way for Midwestern farmers to sell to people in poor communities who couldn't afford a real breakfast.

A granola-like breakfast cereal was invented in the mid-19th century at a health resort in upstate New York. 

Will Keith Kellogg and his brother John Harvey Kellogg invented corn flakes in the late 19th century.  He and his brother were both 7th Day Adventists and together founded the Battle Creek Sanitarium - a high-end health resort that espoused the lifestyle principles of the 7th day Adventist Church.  They invented flaked breakfast cereals originally to serve to the patrons of their toney health resort as a treatment for various digestive problems.

[Rudynate]

On 3/2/2024 at 7:26 AM, pubic_assistance said:

Exactly.

People seem to have forgotten the history of cereal.

It was marketed in the early 1900s as a way for Midwestern farmers to sell to people in poor communities who couldn't afford a real breakfast.

Are you positive?  I have read that flaked breakfast cereals were invented in the mid-19th century as health foods to correct various digestive ailments.  The Kellogg brothers were both 7th-day Adventist health nuts.

[Luv2play]

On 2/28/2024 at 2:18 PM, azdr0710 said:

This vaguely reminds me of David Cameron, then-PM of Britain, eating a hot dog with a knife and fork in 2015. Just a bit out of touch. 

I would do the same. Of course I’ve eaten a hot dog standing up and then use my hands but seated the way he is and with a salad as a side to the hotdog, a knife and fork held the way he does is correct. 

[+ DynamicUno]

Several years ago I thought I'd eat healthier by having two packs of plain instant oatmeal in the morning for breakfast with eggs for protein.   A couple months later I had my bloodwork done and my iron was very high.  It turns out that a single pack of plain instant oatmeal is normally fortified to 40% RDA, so I was getting almost my full RDA in breakfast alone.  The flavored packs usually have less iron and would ironically be better for me than the plain stuff.

Steelcut oats are not normally fortified and a superior option to instant oats anyway, I just wish I could prepare if faster.  

It turns out many box cereals are iron fortified, and men who are prone to iron overload should not eat those cereals frequently to maintain healthy iron levels.  

 

[pubic_assistance]

12 hours ago, Rudynate said:

Are you positive?  I have read that flaked breakfast cereals were invented in the mid-19th century as health foods to correct various digestive ailments.  The Kellogg brothers were both 7th-day Adventist health nuts.

I am positive that cereal was a modern invention.

I am positive that people used to eat an actual meal for breakfast ( they still do in many parts of the world.)

I am positive that grain cereals were a good option for poor people who couldn't afford real food.

I am positive that the growth of the cereal industry was a boon for wheat and oat farmers in the Midwest.

Have any other people invented other cereals and marketed them in different ways and with different motives other than making a buck ? Probably.

Edited March 4 by pubic_assistance
spelling

[Andy768]

19 hours ago, BSR said:

Every once in a great while, I buy a box of Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter which I have for dessert, a guilty pleasure that takes me back to childhood.  But I have no desire to have it, nor any other cereal, as my dinner.

I haven't bought Peanut Butter Crunch in a long time because the price jumped so much -- eek!

I love to have peanut buttery cereal of any kind as an indulgence too - almost always reserved for when it is on sale! They seem to have peanut butter chex on sale every so often at my local grocery store, so that's become a favorite. I can eat the whole box in a sitting, though, so I have to be careful!

[+ DynamicUno]

The early days of breakfast cereals were created from the late 19th century "clean living" movement promoted by men like John Harvey Kellogg,  Corn Flakes were created at the Battle Creek Sanitorium which was influenced by Adventist ideas of promoting a bland diet and temperance to reduce extreme urges (including sexual) and perceived defects in the typical American diet of the time.  Originally the Sanitorium gave away the corn flaks.  John's brother, Will, founded the Kellogg company to mass market Corn Flakes and other breakfast cereals.

The Battle Creek Sanitorium had a lot of influence in it's heyday, with visitors like Teddy Roosevelt.  The history is fascinating and controvertial, and the birth of the Kelloggs and Post companies from this time and place is equally intriguing.  How those companies evolved from the "clean living" simple food ethos to the sugar laden kid's breakfast exemplifies the excesses of the post-war, Mad Men era corporate culture.

All from a relatively small town in Michigan (cue some wierdo ranting about evil Midwesterners...)

 

[mike carey]

12 minutes ago, DynamicUno said:

All from a relatively small town in Michigan (cue some wierdo ranting about evil Midwesterners...)

I think the site has moved on from those days.

[+ FrankR]

2 hours ago, Rudynate said:

A granola-like breakfast cereal was invented in the mid-19th century at a health resort in upstate New York. 

Will Keith Kellogg and his brother John Harvey Kellogg invented corn flakes in the late 19th century.  He and his brother were both 7th Day Adventists and together founded the Battle Creek Sanitarium - a high-end health resort that espoused the lifestyle principles of the 7th day Adventist Church.  They invented flaked breakfast cereals originally to serve to the patrons of their toney health resort as a treatment for various digestive problems.

I caught this on the History Channel the other day: “The Food That Made America”. season 1 Episode 1. It told the story of cereal, the Kellogg brothers and how their success drove them apart. I think the development took place in Michigan and not New York…

[Rudynate]

1 hour ago, FrankR said:

I caught this on the History Channel the other day: “The Food That Made America”. season 1 Episode 1. It told the story of cereal, the Kellogg brothers and how their success drove them apart. I think the development took place in Michigan and not New York…

 

 

correct - their resort was in Battle Creek Michigan.   The upstate New York thing was another party inventing something other than corn flakes, showing that breakfast cereals go back to the mid-19th century.   I have actually seen the resort in upstate New York - it was deserted and we walked through the woods to get a closer look at it.

[Rudynate]

1 hour ago, DynamicUno said:

The early days of breakfast cereals were created from the late 19th century "clean living" movement promoted by men like John Harvey Kellogg,  Corn Flakes were created at the Battle Creek Sanitorium which was influenced by Adventist ideas of promoting a bland diet and temperance to reduce extreme urges (including sexual) and perceived defects in the typical American diet of the time.  Originally the Sanitorium gave away the corn flaks.  John's brother, Will, founded the Kellogg company to mass market Corn Flakes and other breakfast cereals.

The Battle Creek Sanitorium had a lot of influence in it's heyday, with visitors like Teddy Roosevelt.  The history is fascinating and controvertial, and the birth of the Kelloggs and Post companies from this time and place is equally intriguing.  How those companies evolved from the "clean living" simple food ethos to the sugar laden kid's breakfast exemplifies the excesses of the post-war, Mad Men era corporate culture.

All from a relatively small town in Michigan (cue some wierdo ranting about evil Midwesterners...)

 

And actually, one of the Kellogg brothers were originally affiliated with the guys in Dansville NY who developed the precursor, which they called "granula," to the flaked breakfast cereals that the Kelloggs were known for. 

[+ azdr0710]

12 hours ago, FrankR said:

I caught this on the History Channel the other day: “The Food That Made America”. season 1 Episode 1. It told the story of cereal, the Kellogg brothers and how their success drove them apart. I think the development took place in Michigan and not New York…

thanks for this note.....here is a preview for that first season episode, including the Kellogg's story, among others ......as one youtube commenter suggests, the preview is as action-packed and thrilling as any Avengers movie!.....and Colonel Sanders wielding a shotgun!......I didn't have time to find a link to the entire episode......

 

[+ Lucky]

The Breakfast of Champions used to sell at Walmart for 3 dollars. Now it is over 5 dollars.

[marylander1940]

5 hours ago, azdr0710 said:

thanks for this note.....here is a preview for that first season episode, including the Kellogg's story, among others ......as one youtube commenter suggests, the preview is as action-packed and thrilling as any Avengers movie!.....and Colonel Sanders wielding a shotgun!......I didn't have time to find a link to the entire episode......

 

[marylander1940]

On 3/3/2024 at 3:23 AM, BSR said:

Every once in a great while, I buy a box of Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter which I have for dessert, a guilty pleasure that takes me back to childhood.  But I have no desire to have it, nor any other cereal, as my dinner.

I haven't bought Peanut Butter Crunch in a long time because the price jumped so much -- eek!

Do you use fat free milk? 

[top_guy_atl]

Who can even afford the cereal?  At my local grocery store, they sell a box of the plain Cheerios (no honey OR nut) for almost $9.  Add $4 for a gallon of milk and that's some expensive meal.

[mike carey]

On 2/29/2024 at 12:03 AM, Pensant said:

That CEO’s sneering condescension is obvious. Loading up on dangerous and highly processed cereal for dinner is awful.

Possibly so, but there is another explanation, and one that the OP nods to in his choice of a thread title (and I admit to being lamentably slow in the uptake) in which he references the traditional translation of Qu'ils mangent de la brioche, which Jean-Jacques Rousseau attributed to an unnamed 'great princess' (and has since been attributed erroneously to Marie Antoinette). 'Let them eat cake' has become the byword for being monumentally out of touch. Neither sneering condescension nor being hopelessly out of touch reflects well on the CEO.

[BSR]

To celebrate Easter (not really, but I had to justify it somehow), I splurged on a box of Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter -- $5.99!!  2 years ago the same box was just $3.99.

It made for a yummy dessert, but it would make a lousy breakfast, or dinner, because of all the sugar.  I can't believe parents let their kids eat so much sugar at the start of the day.

When we were kids, my mom would let my brother & me pick 1 box of "yummy" cereal (in other words, a sugar bomb like Peanut Butter Crunch) and 2 boxes of yucky but healthy cereal.  We always devoured the yummy box in a couple of days, then had to "suffer" with the boring yucky cereals for the next 2 weeks.

[samhexum]

On 3/31/2024 at 9:10 PM, BSR said:

I splurged on a box of Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter -- $5.99!!  2 years ago the same box was just $3.99. When we were kids, my mom would let my brother & me pick 1 box of "yummy" cereal (in other words, a sugar bomb like Peanut Butter Crunch) and 2 boxes of yucky but healthy cereal.  We always devoured the yummy box in a couple of days, then had to "suffer" with the boring yucky cereals for the next 2 weeks.