Interesting Food Facts about Cereal

  • Cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often eaten as breakfast.
  • The word cereal comes from Cerealia, the name of ancient Roman ceremonies that honored Ceres, the goddess of grain.
  • The first ready-to-eat breakfast cereal, Granula was invented in the United States in 1863 by James Caleb Jackson.
  • Cereal is often eaten cold with with milk, yogurt, and sometimes fruit, but may be eaten dry.
  • Breakfast cereal companies make gluten-free cereals for consumers who suffer from Celiac Disease.

Fun Fact:

Astronauts from Apollo 11 ate cereal during their mission to the moon. The cereal with fruit was compressed into cubes because the lack of gravity made bowls of milk impossible.

The average American eats 160 bowls of cereal each year.

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Today’s Food History

1804 John Wedgwood, the son of Josiah Wedgwood of pottery fame, founded the Royal Horticultural Society.

1849 Luther Burbank was born. American horticulturist, he developed many new varieties of fruits and vegetables, including the Burbank Potato (1873), the Shasta Daisy, over 100 varieties of plums and prunes and 10 varieties of berries.

1897 Dr. John Kellogg served corn flakes for the first time to his patients at his hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan. They wouldn’t be sold commercially until 1906.

1914 The Coca Cola Bottler’s Association was formed.

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