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Cereal Prize Collectibles history: in the middle 1800s, North
Americans ate meat for breakfast, including chicken, beef and pork. They
had few grains and fiber, until it was realized that this was not the
way to go for a healthy body and mind. The USA developed its first
breakfast cereal in the early 1860s, called Granula. The cereal
consisted of heavy chunks of bran husks, which needed to be soaked
overnight before they could be consumed. Europeans and British were
farther ahead, with a much longer history of using grains for other than
animal feed, if only out of necessity due to periods of famine. When
the farm animals could not survive, then their feed could be eaten in
adjusted format by humans, giving rise to such staples as Scottish
porridge.
In the USA, a health movement in the 1860s caused the development of
cereals. Food for hospital patients was a thin, baked dough, which
caught the interest of W.K. Kellogg and C.W. Post. Both men, out of the
necessity to adopt the trends of the day and create a healthy and hopefully
profitable alternative to existing meals, devised grain cereals that
could compete. In 1865, Post developed a hot drink made out of
cereal, called Postum, which remains today, a plain but caffeine-free
beverage which can be consumed by children as well as adults. In 1867,
Post developed Grape Nuts which has equally endured over the years, with
changes only to the composition and processing.
