16. The Permanent Thing Called Cereal

0:00The Permanent Thing Called Serial Sometimes, for your own mental wellbeing, it is a meritorious act to remove yourself from the hustle-bustle of daily life, with its mind-boggling busyness, technological frenzy, ever-changing professional demands, and relentless pressure to be drawn into ephemeral fripperies, and instead reflect on what T. S. Eliot called the Permanent Things. The things that bind us across time and space and unite the generations, the things that we know will long outlive our limited days on earth.

0:47I speak, of course, of breakfast cereal. This is America's number one choice of morning food. As with many of the permanent things, its origin is religious. In the ancient days, people ate very little fiber for breakfast. Then, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, a Protestant religious reformer who ran a sanatorium had the idea that eating grains was good for mind and spirit. The idea was then picked up by John Harvey Kellogg, a Seventh Day Adventist. Specifically, our minds are drawn to the brands that seem to have always been with us and always will be. They are permanent fixtures of the cultural landscape, as alive and present in the life of someone born a few years ago as those who were born many decades ago.

1:40Even today, a walk through the grocery aisle is a blast from the past for many of us. We feel nostalgia even as our children feel a sense of excitement at what is, for them, something completely new. Nothing lifts the spirit like watching a young member of a new generation discover a classic we know so well. Hey Dad, can we get these great tasting snacks? That phrase, which can be heard around the world, should be accompanied by music. It is evidently very difficult to introduce a new serial into the market, which is as it should be. Consider the ever old, ever new. As you do, think of this.

2:28We all recognise these names from our childhood. The young today know them all too. Our children's children will know them too, most likely. How many icons of popular culture are there, brand names no less, of which this can be Said, Cheerios, since 1941 and still the most popular, Shredded Wheat, since 1893, Rice Crispies, since 1929, Wheaties, since 1924, Grape Nuts, since 1897, Kellogg's Cornflakes, since 1906, Captain Crunch since 1963, Smacks, Kicks, Tricks, Alphabits, Apple Jacks, Boo-Berry, Lucky Charms, Cookie Crisp, Fruity Pebbles, Frosted Flakes, Cocoa Puffs, Cocoa Crispies, Loot Loops, Raisin Bran, Frosted Mini-Weeds, Life, Honeycombs, Wackies Half of Americans eat cereal every day.

3:46We eat 2.7 billion packages of cereal every year. The wonderful cereal industry uses 816 million pounds of sugar every year to produce them. Truly, Americans love cereal, but not as much as societies where tradition is valued even more highly than here. Ireland ranks number one in cereal consumption, England second, and Australia third. And how marvelously impervious to the complaints of the Puritans we are. Amazon sells a number of books denouncing cereal for its supposed dangers. How often do we hear complaints that these companies are attempting to sell junk food as if it were health food?

4:35But we ignore it all and just keep crunching away. It's true, of course, that anyone with an all-cereal diet wouldn't fare well, but that's not what we're talking about here. What makes cereal great? Of course, it only takes a minute to prepare poor, poor eat. Also, I'm not kidding about its ability to link the generations. It is comfort food, a breakfast that we can eat when we are very young and very old. It's true that our tastes change, young kids fall for every advertising gimmick, cuckoo for cuckoo puffs, middle-ageders go for the grainy health thing with the soothing voice, never mind that it is basically the same stuff.

5:21We are what we eat, and we want to eat what we are. is there through all stages of life. How happy are my memories from my mid-teen years when I would get the largest mixing bowl in the house, pour in an entire box of Captain Crunch with crunch berries, along with half a carton of milk and start crunching away using the largest spoon I could find. These are the memorable scenes from our coming of age that we carry with us throughout life, even unto death. There are some mysteries yet to solve in the cereal world. I've never understood why some cereals like sugar smacks come wrapped in foil, whereas others like Froot Loops come wrapped in plastic. I wrote Kellogg's, and they sent back the following answer.

6:08We base our choice for both inner and outer packaging materials on our need to deliver fresh product to stores in the best possible condition. We look at our packaging to control the absorption of moisture, control breakage, and prevent and any other type of damage that might occur during the shipping and handling of our foods. Now, that's not quite what I was after, but good for them for answering it all. I confess to some disappointments. As you might guess from the above, my number one top favorite cereal of all time is Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries. When I was growing up, there was only one kind of Crunch Berry, red. The idea was to eat all the crunch and save the crunch berries for later, unless you were 15 and you no longer cared.

6:56Then somewhere along the way, some jerk decided that crunch berries should be many different colors, even though it is not the case in nature. So now, Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries comes with green, blue, purple and who knows what else crunch berries. I don't know what's with the people who would dare to make such a change. Respect the Classics, I say.