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How Cereal Transformed American Culture

blogs.static.mentalfloss.com — More than a century ago, Christian fundamentalists invented cereal to promote a healthy lifestyle free of sin. Little did they know, their creation would eventually be used to promote everything from radio and cartoons to Mr. T and tooth decay.

Who dugg this? Made popular Dec 11, 2008

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  • inactive, on 12/11/2008, -1/+64I'm still waiting for Lucky Charms that is just marshmallows.
  • williamson389, on 12/11/2008, -0/+39Cereal is for anytime of day!
  • BoneheadFarker, on 12/11/2008, -1/+30"During the early 19th century, most Americans subsisted on a diet of pork, whiskey, and coffee."

    Holy crap...I'm living in the 19th century...
  • Cerebron, on 12/11/2008, -0/+27True story, fapping was invented to prevent little kids.
  • inactive, on 12/11/2008, -5/+31Awesome article about cereal.
  • l034me, on 12/11/2008, -0/+20FTA: "At the time, advertising was associated with snake-oil salesmen and con artists."

    Not much has changed in that dept.
  • spokenkaraoke, on 12/11/2008, -1/+20i see it now, fruit loops, prop 8...
  • RudeTurnip, on 12/11/2008, -0/+14True story: Graham crackers were invented to prevent little kids from fapping.
  • manzplan, on 12/11/2008, -2/+16LOL Gods punishment was constipation.. you would think diahrea would be more up his alley..
  • trixyfox, on 12/11/2008, -0/+12What? No love for Cinnamon Toast Crunch
  • StigNordas, on 12/11/2008, -1/+13Captain Crunch = Mouth Beef
  • ingxia, on 12/11/2008, -1/+12I was told Indians invented cereal, the original cereal being popcorn and milk which actually doesn't make sense since it would turn into a mushy mass in about 5 seconds.
  • nikki2300dk, on 12/11/2008, -0/+10Which one?
  • mreade, on 12/11/2008, -4/+14Wow that was pretty interesting! That's the first time I've known that religion has actually been good for something... oops, did I just say that out loud ;)
  • 10lbhammer, on 12/11/2008, -4/+13awesome comment about article about cereal.
  • Dasliberdan, on 12/11/2008, -0/+9That son of a btich Tucan Sam has been spreading lies about my cereal, it does not cut the roof of your mouth!
  • inactive, on 12/11/2008, -0/+8Anyone else add bananas to their cereal?
  • g33b33, on 12/11/2008, -1/+9diarrhea comes DOWN your alley. Not up.
  • inactive, on 12/11/2008, -0/+8How Captain Crunch Transformed the roof of my mouth.
  • GoKings, on 12/11/2008, -2/+10Fruity Pebbles = Best cereal ever
  • ClevelandBrown, on 12/11/2008, -1/+8Froot Loops are my personal favorite. Chemically delicious.
  • nesagwa, on 12/11/2008, -0/+7Its roasted grains ground up and baked into flakes.

    We evolved to eat grains just fine.
  • UselessTrivia, on 12/11/2008, -0/+6I got to visit a Kellogg's factory for a class a few years ago...it was really amazing. They basically buy hundreds of tons of dust and powder, add water, bake, stamp into correct shape, spray with vitamin supplements and flavoring, then bake again (because they get soggy when you spray them).

    Most cereal is pretty much the same except for a few ingredients, the shape and the makeup of the flavor and vitamin sprays. It's completely tasteless until they add that. They showed us tables for how long it takes to switch from making one kind of cereal to another. Switching from Cornflakes to Smacks was just a few hours...cornflakes to Heart Smart was more like 16 I think.

    Fascinating stuff. I haven't looked at cereal the same way since.



  • aolshove, on 12/11/2008, -1/+7Dot Indians or Feather Indians?
  • trixyfox, on 12/11/2008, -1/+7Hearts, Stars, and Horseshoes
    Clovers and Blue Moons
    Pots of Gold and Rainbows
    And me Red Balloons!
  • sweeneyowns, on 12/11/2008, -1/+7Count Chocula and Fruity Pebbles are my Gods now....
  • Zippo, on 12/11/2008, -1/+7Something tells me cereal isn't quite as healthy as it used to be.
  • Pelon808, on 12/11/2008, -0/+5Road to Wellville??
  • inactive, on 12/11/2008, -1/+6Ah internet misinformation. Protein, great for building muscle, lousy for energy. That's what carbs are for. Go cereal..
  • likwidfuzion, on 12/11/2008, -0/+5Toilet bowl
  • TalkGibberish, on 12/11/2008, -0/+5I assume feather, since they have the corn
  • zkwarren, on 12/11/2008, -0/+4Reese's puffs. For God's sake, it's Reese's for breakfast!
  • doctechnical, on 12/11/2008, -0/+4Your pagan "gods" tremble before the might of Quisp and Quake.
  • liquidhalcyon, on 12/11/2008, -0/+4REESES? FOR BREAKFAST?
  • bipolarruledout, on 12/11/2008, -0/+4Ironic since it's pretty much the main diet of lazy masturbaters everywhere.
  • inactive, on 12/11/2008, -0/+4Or Neal Stephenson for that matter.
  • 1807, on 12/11/2008, -0/+4you know, I ate Lucky Charms BEFORE the damn pots of gold and red balloons. Yea, I do think I'm better than you, YEA I do want a cookie!
  • ixtahdoom, on 12/11/2008, -0/+4well, technically cereal was invented when humans discovered agriculture. the idea of squirting something from a cow on it is largely Post's invention, even though europeans had been doing this with dry biscuits for centuries.
  • aerospacemonkey, on 12/11/2008, -1/+5It's all about the All-Bran, and Fibre1

    Excuse me, while I go fill up another bowl.
  • sexybobo, on 12/11/2008, -0/+3Since America move to a cereal based diet the average life expectancy has risen by 28 years not to mention the total number of pirates in the world has gone down and the number of tv stars and people using the internet has grown exponentially.
    Things change in to world. More people are dieing from cancer and diabetes now because 100 years ago they just said they died from unknown causes. Our great grandparents at a lot of unhealth food and they weren't fat because they worked 10 hours a day
  • doctechnical, on 12/11/2008, -0/+3...behind Peanut Butter Crunch.
  • loobis, on 12/11/2008, -1/+4You can buy a bag of "cereal marshmallows" at Gordon Food Service. Give those a shot. Not Lucky Charms brand, but probably pretty close.

    EDIT: Sorry for the tease. Didn't realize GFS was mostly midwest and Florida. I thought they were national.
  • shipwreck58, on 12/11/2008, -2/+5Steak and Eggs for breakfast, period. Cereal is for pussies.
  • nikki2300dk, on 12/11/2008, -0/+3Crunchberries... worth the pain!
  • lowdose, on 12/11/2008, -0/+3I have not had cereal in years. But, after reading that article I am thinking about buying a box. Funny how that article was not an advertisement, but had the same effect.
  • tidu, on 12/11/2008, -0/+3go back to eating leaves and pebbles
  • o0joshua0o, on 12/11/2008, -0/+3They really need to round the edges on those things. They are DANGEROUS.
  • sgxyay, on 12/11/2008, -0/+3Old-school Tony the Tiger is trippy/cool!
  • U83RMENSCH, on 12/11/2008, -0/+3Im eating some right now :D
  • ToYKillAS, on 12/11/2008, -2/+5Smack, Crack & Pot
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