March 7: National Cereal Day

Cue the G Love and Special Sauce song Milk and Cereal…. Because today we celebrate a breakfast creation that’s more than just a breakfast. It’s a delicious snack or meal anytime you want to make it one — it’s March 7 and today is National Cereal Day.

Amazingly, about 50% of Americans eat cereal as their first meal of the day, with Americans consuming 101 pounds — 160 bowls per person per year.

The name cereal is derived from the Roman goddess of harvest, ceres, and the first cereal grains were domesticated by early humans 8,000 years ago. It took much longer, though, to actually make cereal. Granula, which sounds more like a villain than a cereal, was invented in 1863 and was the word first breakfast cereal, created by Dr. James Caleb Jackson from New York.

In 1894, Dr. John Harvey Kellog invented his corn flakes for patients at his sanitarium, and it was made to be bland completely on purpose… because he thought bland foods would decrease his patient’s sex drives. Don’t think that really did much, but people still eat the cereal today — in fact, the Astronauts on Apollo 11 were eating the stuff during the moon landing!

Here’s a few more fast cereal facts for ya:

• In colonial times, people ate popcorn like breakfast cereal, with cream and sugar.
• Since Lucky Charms hit the shelves in 1964, the heart is the only original shape still used today.
• The Rice Kristpies mascots Snap, Crackle and Pop had another brother named Pow in 1950, but it was very short lived.
• Cheerioes originally had the name CheeriOats when it first started in 1941. The name change happened in 1945.
• The Fruit Loops colors are might be a total lie. While there may be red, green, orange, and yellow circles, they don’t really have individual flavors. Blind taste tests attested they all just have a vague fruity flavor.

Bon Appetit and Happy Holiday everyone! I’ll see you tomorrow.