Breakfast cereal
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Spoonful_of_cereal.jpg
Breakfast cereal is a food product designed especially to be marketed to consumers as a breakfast food. Though cereal is a staple of daily meals in many countries around the world, in wealthier, consumer-conscious nations such as the United States, entire industries have been created dedicated to the sale of specialized products, such as breakfast cereals. Breakfast cereals are generally eaten cold and mixed with milk as opposed to hot cereals like oatmeal, grits, etc.
Breakfast cereals are marketed to all ages. For adults, companies such as Kellogg's, Quaker Oats, and General Mills promote their products for the health benefits gained from eating oat-based and grain-based cereals. Nevertheless, the vast majority of breakfast cereal sold is marketed to young children. Cereal manufacturers have been criticized for manufacturing breakfast cereals with a heavy sugar content aimed at children. Sugar-laden breakfast cereals have been extremely popular with children for decades, and many adults also buy them out of nostalgia (also because they enjoy the taste). Manufacturers often fortify breakfast cereals with various vitamins.
Some highlights in the history of American breakfast cereals:
1877 Portrait of the Quaker man on the Quaker Oats package created. Updated three times: 1946, 1957, and 1972.
1885 Quaker Oats first packages Quaker Oatmeal in square boxes after years of selling oatmeal in bulk.
1906 Kellogg begins production of Kelloggs Corn Flakes at W.K. Kellogg’s newly formed Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flakes Company.
1915 Quaker Oats packages Quaker Oatmeal in now-familiar cylinders.
1916 Kelloggs introduces All-Bran
1924 General Mills introduces Wheaties, called Washburn’s Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes during its development.
1928 Kelloggs introduces Rice Krispies
1941 General Mills introduces Cheerioats, later to be called Cheerios.
1942 Raisin Bran first available in stores.
1952 Kelloggs introduces Sugar Smacks.
1958 Tony the Tiger wins contest over Katy the Kangaroo to become sole spokes-character for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes.
1961 Quaker Oats introduces Life Cereal.
1963 Quaker Oats introduces Cap'n Crunch. Kelloggs introduces Fruit Loops.
1965 Quaker Oats introduces Quisp.
1978 Quaker Oats introduces Cinnamon Life Cereal.