The Semi-Bizarre Origin of Breakfast Cereal
After a frustrating 2-week period of writer’s block, I realized while eating my morning bowl of luscious carbs the topic of my next column: breakfast cereals. I went about my usual research, looking in all the usual places for all the usual info, when I came across two very odd characters: John Harvey Kellogg and Slyvester Graham. The first name you are sure to recognize (but we have J.H. Kellogg’s brother to thank for the Kellogg’s cereal company). The second name is less well known, but no less appreciated: Graham is partly responsible for the wonderful and slightly sweetened cracker that still bears his name today. Neither set out to invent the foods associated with their names; they were an indirect result of their work trying to rid people of their ailments.
The Reverend Sylvester Graham (1794–1851) abhorred poor eating habits and let his congregation know it every chance he got. A self-proclaimed doctor and nutritionist, Graham spoke out against processed foods, alcohol, hot mince pie, and cringey Tik-Tok videos. Actually, on the first and last points, Graham and I agree. He claimed white bread was the basis of our nation’s poor diet and a great cause of malnutrition. One must admit, he had a point. I finished a fun stint on the Whole 30 diet not long ago, after which I noticed many improvements to my health. The Whole 30, along with the Paleo diet, embraces many of the same ideals Graham taught, so maybe he was just ahead of his time. We do know white flour has all the best nutrition taken out when the germ and the bran are removed.
Graham’s ideas on nutrition included a push toward vegetarianism and whole-grain foods. That’s why are Graham crackers are so named: they were simply whole wheat and molasses crackers. For the same reason, whole wheat flour is sometimes found to be called Graham flour. As for vegetarianism, Graham felt meat inflamed the stomach (which was considered the body’s main organ at the time), and anything that caused inflammation was also making someone lustful. Wow, who knew?
Eventually, Graham’s career came to an end. Along the way, he had influenced two young men: one John Harvey Kellogg, who I already mentioned, and one James Caleb Jackson. Jackson’s only contribution as far as this topic is concerned was the first cold breakfast cereal: he mixed graham flour and water, made small wafers from this dough, and called it Granula. Not granola; Granula.
Along comes Seventh-Day Adventist Sister Ellen White, who claims that she was advised by an angel to found a wellness center for her fellow Adventists. She checked the label on her prescription bottle, and finding it to be non-hallucinogenic, proceeded to establish the Western Health Reform Institute in Battle Creek, Michigan. At the time, Battle Creek was sort of the world headquarters for the Seventh-Day Adventists, so the wellness center naturally did well. It got some pretty stiff competition from the Sixth- and Eighth-Day Adventists around the corner, but seven being a lucky number, Sister White won out. Having been a fan of the fabulously unpleasant Granula, she made sure it was served at her new wellness center.
Unfortunately, Sister White was not much of an entrepreneur, and had no choice but to hand over the center to John Harvey Kellogg. He changed the name to the Kellogg Sanitarium. This wasn’t a center for mentally disturbed individuals — although given what we know about the man, if one were to make that assumption I wouldn’t rush to correct them — but rather a place for people to just pursue better health.
Among his many developments, Kellogg game up with a famous Kellogg Sanitarium Health Treat: cornmeal and oats baked into hard little cakes, then ground into bits. He called this creation Granula. This was a poor choice, given another Graham-follower had already copyrighted the name, so Kellogg changed the name to granola.
Kellogg’s little health reformation program began to gain national acclaim. The Sanatarium admitted mostly “patients” who needed nothing more than better eating habits. Kellogg offered a diet program, but he also offered many other strange services, which I’ll leave to you to look up on your own time and — ahem — at your own risk. The incredibly ridiculous film The Road to Wellville, which despite its all-star cast including Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Broderick was an appallingly bad choice on some studio’s part, detailed the non-cereal bizarro world of John Harvey Kellogg.
Kellogg heard about someone in Denver manufacturing a curious food called “shredded wheat.” Kellogg, adventuresome soul that he was, tried some and declared it was “like eating a whisk broom.” Honestly, I can’t say I’m a fan of the stuff either.
One of the Kellogg Sanitarium patients was a gentleman named C.W. Post, who tried to convince Kellogg to partner up with him — for he felt that together they could really take the cereal world by storm — but Kellogg refused.
Post had fallen in love with the breakfast cereal idea, having had some while at the Sanitarium. He was positive he could start his own wellness center and make millions, so he moved to another part of town in Battle Creek and did just that. His first cereal off the line: Post Toasties. His second brainchild was Grape Nuts, which have always been a puzzling name for me, as they are not made from grapes and contain no nuts. The more puzzling fact, however, was Post’s claim that one did not need surgery for appendicitis, but rather a large helping of Grape Nuts. I hear Froot Loops cures athlete’s foot, but that’s probably just rumor.
Post was right about making mad cash; within a few years, he’d made millions. As for Kellogg, he should have listened to Post, because the Kellogg Sanitarium began to debilitate, almost to the point of closing completely. One of John Harvey Kellogg’s sixteen brothers, William, who had been the business manager from the beginning, convinced him to restructure the business. They agreed to start anew as the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company. William wasn’t a fan of the new name and, while John Harvey was away in Europe, took over all his stock and renamed the company Kellogg’s.
The rest of the story is just a bunch of corporate growth and other companies joining the fray to get their piece of the breakfast cereal market and isn’t nearly as interesting. Except for Clark Griswold’s non-nutritive cereal varnish, but let’s save that for another article.
