Boomer's Journal - The wonderment of breakfast cereal

By Rachel Barduson of Alexandria

One of my son’s favorite cereals when he was growing up was Honey Bunches of Oats. Mine was an occasional bowl of Corn Flakes; Frosted Flakes with Tony the Tiger was a luxury. I only had Wheaties on top of oatmeal. Rice Krispies was definitely a crispy treat of snap, crackle and pop. If I remember right, Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and Wheaties were the only thing in our kitchen cupboard. We ate at the kitchen table and I actually don’t remember much about reading the box that the cereal came in. Of course, I did wonder about a few things as I was growing up and now, in what is supposedly my golden years, I still wonder. I wonder about a lot of things.

One of the most popular aisle in any grocery story is the cereal aisle. Here is the section with Honey Bunches of Oats, one of our son’s favorites.  Photo by Rachel Barduson

I guess wonderment is what this column will be all about. And this month, it’s all about the wonderment of breakfast cereal.

My mom loved her Grape Nuts cereal – and so did I. I always wondered why Grapes Nuts were called Grape Nuts. A box of Grape Nuts contains no grapes – nor nuts.  This is cereal that has been around for a long time. History tells us that Grape Nuts is a brand of breakfast cereal made from flour, salt and dried yeast. It was developed in 1897 by C. W. Post, after a stay at the Battle Creek Sanitorium health spa run by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, food innovator. Post’s original product was baked as a rigid sheet, then broken into pieces and run through a coffee grinder. It was initially marketed as a natural cereal that could enhance health and vitality; a “food for brain and nerve centres.”   

With that small discovery of “food for the brain,” I have now been sucked into the deep crevices, or lack thereof, of breakfast cereal trivia. Curiosity always gets the best of me – curiosity for things I presumably already know about. Let’s be honest, breakfast cereal is a part of all of our lives, whether we want to admit it or not.

I think about the many boxes, the many brands, and the many “favorites” that I and my kids have gone through. The marketing genius, the free toys that are at the bottom of the box, the placement of the “sugar” on the grocery story shelves. Of course, it all goes together, and boom – we have the history of breakfast cereal – one of the most popular foods in America.

Breakfast cereal is something my husband and I would have for supper if we just didn’t feel like cooking. A bowl of cereal and a slice of toast topped with peanut butter. What could be better? It’s got all of the daily nutrients needed. It was our lazy-man’s dinner. Breakfast cereal always comes in handy. It’s a bedtime snack – it’s a middle of the night snack. It’s probably the first “meal” that every kid has prepared himself. Pour some cereal in a bowl, add milk – and suddenly they know how to cook. It’s their go-to for an after-school snack.

The box that the cereal comes in is almost even better than the bag of cereal inside. So many promises are made on the box. And it’s not only advertising on a box, it’s the advertising on Saturday morning cartoons that really gets to the kids (and eventually, to the parents). Watching the advertisements while they watch cartoons and eat their cereal. Yes, I am one of those guilty parents who loved and promoted Saturday morning cartoons with Road Runner and the Pink Panther, Rainbow Brite, Smurfs, Strawberry Shortcake and all of her friends – and Care Bears. Which led to all of those things that became favorite childhood toys and various dolls and stuffed animals on their beds. He-Man and She-Ra both eventually made it into our house, as did Ninja Turtles. Every kid in our neighborhood had Hot Wheels. All advertised as my kids ate cereal on Saturday mornings.

And that of course, leads me to talk a bit about the lyrics of breakfast cereal advertising. Barry Manilow is probably one of the most famous song-writers who got his start writing jingles. My son recently told me that the jingle for Honey Bunches of Oats got stuck in his brain – which actually led to my writing this column. He and I reminisced about Life cereal and Mikey. Our conversation led us to other jingles we will always remember, including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Almond Joy and Mounds (sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t). Simple, repetitive words and notes. Stuck in our brains, which leads to fun conversations.

The promises of nutrition on the cereal boxes had long gone to the wayside when all the promises of other things were way more interesting to read than homework assignments. My kids didn’t care about fortified oats, and I guess I didn’t either. I credit some of the reading skills learned in grade school to reading the box of cereal. Not by reading the label, which lists the nutritional value on the side of the box. Oh no, not that. Just the prizes one could get by sending in a million box-tops to the cereal company. I think my husband even fell into that world when he was growing up. He admitted to sending box tops for a “spy-decoder” and a “Colt six-shooter” when he was a kid. I’m not sure how many bowls of cereal he had to eat in order to get the decoder or the Colt. We will never know.

As I conclude this trivial compilation of words about breakfast cereal – or in actuality, things surrounding breakfast cereal – I wonder what, in its final analysis, has been the point? Eating cereal grains goes back to the beginning of civilization. We knew that. I learned that, after a visit to a health spa, the concept of breakfast cereal was really developed by John Harvey Kellogg, a name we are all familiar with. We’ve witnessed the growth of advertising methods – with breakfast cereal as one of the biggest recipients of marketing genius.

But, what’s the point of me writing about it? As I eat my Grape Nuts and enhance my brain health, I guess I am planning a strategy for writing this Senior Perspective column for another year. Just like Grape Nuts, maybe this column will “enhance health and vitality;” a “food for brain and nerve centres.” Honestly, my hope is that it will inspire memories – through reminiscing – which can be food for the brain and nerve centres. As we begin 2026, let this be a reminder that you never know what to expect in life or in newspaper columns, but if all goes as planned, I hope to promote nostalgia and you will be inspired to reminisce.

And so, my friendly readers, stay tuned.