Breakfast cereal

Breakfast cerealis a category of food, including food products, made fromprocessedcereal grains, that are eaten as part ofbreakfastor as asnack food, primarily inWestern societies.
Although warm, cooked cereals likeoatmeal,corngrits, andwheatfarinahave the longest history as traditional breakfast foods, branded andready-to-eat cold cereals(many produced via the process ofextrusion) appeared around the late 19th century. These processed, precooked, packaged cereals are most often served in a quick and simple preparation withdairy products, traditionallycow's milk. These modern cereals can also be paired withyoghurtorplant-based milks, or eaten plain.Fruitornutsare sometimes added, and may enhance the nutritional benefits.
Some companies promote their products for the health benefits that come from eating oat-based and high-fibercereals. In the United States, cereals are oftenfortifiedwithvitamins, but can still lack many of the vitamins needed for a healthful breakfast, and so initial marketing focused on making the new products "part of a complete breakfast". A significant proportion of packaged cereals have a high sugar content ("sugar cereals" or even "kids' cereals" in common parlance). These cereals are frequently marketed toward children (in television ads, comic books, etc.) and often feature acartoonmascotand may contain atoy or prize.
Between 1970 and 1998, the number of different types of breakfast cereals in the U.S. more than doubled, from about 160 to around 340; as of 2012, there were roughly 5,000 different types (estimate based on themass customizationofonline shopping).In this highly competitive market, cereal companies have developed an ever-increasing number of varieties and flavors (some are flavored likedessertorcandy). Although many plain wheat-, oat- and corn-based cereals exist, a great many other varieties are highly sweetened, and some brands includefreeze-driedfruitas a sweet element. The breakfast cereal industry hasgross profit marginsof 40–45%,In 2009, market researchers expected the market to grow at aCAGRof 7.4%(in the next 5 years); it has had steady and continued growth throughout its history.
Cereal grains, namelyporridge(and especiallyoatmeal), became an important breakfast component in North America.Barleywas a commonly used grain, though other grains andyellow peascould be used. In many modern cultures, porridge is still eaten as a breakfast dish.
Native Americanshad found a way to make ground corn palatable, later calledgrits(from the Old English wordgrēot, meaning "gravel").Hominywas another preparation. While this became a staple in the southern U.S., grits never gained popularity in the northern states.Food reformers in the 19th century called for cutting back on excessive meat consumption at breakfast. They explored numerous vegetarian alternatives. Late in the century, theSeventh-day Adventistsbased in Michigan made these food reforms part of their religion, and  non-meat breakfasts were featured in theirsanitariumsand led to new breakfast cereals.
Ferdinand Schumacher, a Germanimmigrant, began the cereals revolution in 1854 with a hand oats grinder in the back room of a small store inAkron, Ohio. HisGerman Mills American Oatmeal Companywas the nation's first commercialoatmealmanufacturer. He marketed the product locally as a substitute for breakfast pork. Improved production technology (steel cutters, porcelain rollers, improved hullers), combined with an influx of German and Irish immigrants, quickly boosted sales and profits.
In 1877, Schumacher adopted the Quaker symbol, the first registered trademark for a breakfast cereal. The acceptance of "horsefood" for human consumption encouraged other entrepreneurs to enter the industry.Henry Parsons Crowellstarted operations in 1882, and John Robert Stuart in 1885.Crowell cut costs by consolidating every step of the processing—grading, cleaning, hulling, cutting, rolling, packaging, and shipping—in one factory operating atRavenna, Ohio. Stuart operated mills in Chicago andCedar Rapids, Iowa. Stuart and Crowell combined in 1885 and initiated a price war. After a fire at his mill in Akron, Schumacher joined Stuart and Crowell to form the Consolidated Oatmeal Company.
The American Cereal Company (Quaker Oats, but see below) created a cereal made from oats in 1877, manufacturing the product in Akron, Ohio.Separately, in 1888, a trust or holding company combined the nation's seven largest mills into the American Cereal Company using the Quaker Oats brand name. By 1900, technology, entrepreneurship, and the "Man in Quaker Garb"—a symbol of plain honesty and reliability—gave Quaker Oats a national market and annual sales of $10 million (equivalent to $370 million today).
Early in the 20th century, the Quaker Oats Company (formed in 1901 to replace the American Cereal Company) ventured into the world market. Schumacher, the innovator; Stuart, the manager and financial leader; and Crowell, the creative merchandiser, advertiser, and promoter, doubled sales every decade.Alexander P. Anderson's steam-pressure method of shooting rice from guns createdpuffed riceandpuffed wheat. Crowell's intensive advertising campaign in the 1920s and 1930s featured promotions with such celebrities asBabe Ruth,Max Baer, andShirley Temple. Sponsorship of the popularRin-Tin-TinandSergeant Preston of the Yukonradio shows aided the company's expansion during the depression. Meat rationing during World War II boosted annual sales to $90 million (equivalent to $1.5 billion today), and by 1956 sales topped $277 million ($3.1 billion today). By 1964 the firm sold over 200 products, grossed over $500 million ($4.9 billion today), and claimed that eight million people ate Quaker Oats each day. Expansion included the acquisition ofAunt JemimaMills Company in 1926, which continues as a leading brand of pancake mixes and syrup, the sport drinkGatoradein 1983, and in 1986, the Golden Grain Company, producers ofRice-A-Ronicanned lunch food. In 2001 Quaker Oats was itself bought out byPepsiCo.
The first cold breakfast cereal,Granula(not to be confused withgranola), was invented in the United States in 1863 byJames Caleb Jackson, operator of Our Home on the Hillside which was later replaced by theJackson SanatoriuminDansville, New York. The cereal never became popular, due to the inconvenient necessity of tenderizing the heavy bran and graham nuggets by soaking them overnight.
George H. Hoyt createdWheatenacirca 1879, during an era when retailers would typically buy cereal (the most popular being crackedwheat,oatmeal, andcerealine) in barrel lots, and scoop it out to sell by the pound to customers. Hoyt, who had found a distinctive process of preparing wheat for cereal, sold his cereal in boxes, offering consumers a more sanitary and consumer-friendly option.
Packaged breakfast cereals were considerably more convenient than a product that had to be cooked, and as a result of this convenience (and clever marketing), they became popular.Battle Creek, Michigan, was a center both of theSeventh-day Adventist Churchand of innovation in the ready-to-eat cereal industry, and indeed, the church had a substantial impact on the development of cereal goods through the person ofJohn Harvey Kellogg(1851–1943). Son of an Adventist factory owner in Battle Creek, Kellogg was encouraged by his church to train in medicine atBellevue Hospital Medical Collegein New York City in 1875. After graduating, he became medical superintendent at theWestern Health Reform Institutein Battle Creek, established in 1866 by the Adventists to offer their natural remedies for illness.  Many wealthy industrialists came to Kellogg's sanitarium for recuperation and rejuvenation.
In Battle Creek sanitarium guests found fresh air, exercise, rest,hydrotherapy, a strict vegetarian diet, and abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea. (They were accustomed to breakfasts of ham, eggs, sausages, fried potatoes, hot biscuits, hotcakes (pancakes), and coffee.) To supplement the center's vegetarian regimen, Kellogg experimented with granola. Soon afterwards he began to experiment with wheat, resulting in a lighter, flakier product. In 1891 he acquired a patent and then in 1895 he launched theCornflakesbrand, which overnight captured a national market. Soon there were forty rival manufacturers in the Battle Creek area. His brotherWilliam K. Kellogg(1860–1951) worked for him for many years until, in 1906, he broke away, bought the rights to Cornflakes, and set up the Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Company. William Kellogg discarded the health food concept, opting for heavy advertising and commercial taste appeal. Later, his signature on every package became the company trademark.
The second major innovator in the cereal industry wasCharles W. Post, a salesman who was admitted to Kellogg's sanitarium as a patient in the late 1800s. While there, he grew deeply impressed with their all-grain diet. Upon his release, he began experimenting with grain products, beginning with an all-grain coffee substitute called Postum. In 1897 (or 1898) he introducedGrape-nuts, the concentrated cereal with a nutty flavor (containing neither grapes nor nuts). Good business sense, determination, and powerful advertising produced a multimillion-dollar fortune for Post in a few years.  After his death, his company acquired theJell-Ocompany in 1925,Baker's Chocolatein 1927, Maxwell House coffee in 1928, and Birdseye frozen foods in 1929. In 1929, the company changed its name toGeneral Foods. In 1985,Philip Morris Tobacco Companybought General Foods for $5.6 billion (equivalent to $15.9 billion today) and merged it with its Kraft division.Because ofKelloggandPost, the city ofBattle Creek, Michigan, is nicknamed the "Cereal Capital of the World".
Muesli is a breakfast cereal based on uncookedrolled oats, fruit, and nuts. It was developed around 1900 by the Swiss physicianMaximilian Bircher-Bennerfor patients in his hospital.It is available in apackageddry form such asAlpenorFamiliaSwiss Müesli, or it can be made fresh.
In 1902,Forcewheat flakes became the first ready-to-eat breakfast cereal introduced into theUnited Kingdom.  The cereal, and the Sunny Jim character, achieved wide success in Britain, at its peak in 1930 selling 12.5 million packages in one year.
Kellogg began the breakfast cereal marketing and introduced the first in-box prize in the early 1900s.Quaker Oats entered the market with Puffed Rice and Wheat Berries it had introduced at the1904 World Fair, with raw grains shot with hot compressed air from tubes, popping up to many times their size.They were marketed as a revolution in food science.In the 1920s, national advertising in magazines and radio broadcasts played a key role in the emergence of the fourth big cereal manufacturer,General Mills. In 1921,James Ford Bell, president of a Minneapolis wheat milling firm, began experimenting with rolled wheat flakes. After tempering, steaming, cracking wheat, and processing it with syrup, sugar, and salt, it was prepared in a pressure cooker for rolling and then dried in an electric oven. By 1925,Wheatieshad become the "Breakfast of Champions". In 1928, four milling companies consolidated as the General Mills Company in Minneapolis. The new firm expanded packaged food sales with heavy advertising, including sponsorship of radio programs such as "Skippy", "Jack Armstrong, The All-American Boy", and baseball games.Jack Dempsey,Johnny Weissmuller, and others verified the "Breakfast of Champions" slogan. By 1941 Wheaties had won 12% percent of the cereal market. Experiments with the puffing process producedKix, a puffed corn cereal, andCheerios, a puffed oats cereal. Further product innovation and diversification brought total General Mills sales to over $500 million annually (18% in packaged foods) by the early 1950s.In 1944 General Foods launched a marketing campaign for Grape Nuts, focusing on nutritional importance of breakfast.
AfterWorld War II, the big breakfast cereal companies—now includingGeneral Mills, who entered the market in 1924 withWheaties—increasingly started to target children. The flour was refined to remove fiber, which at the time was considered to undermine digestion and absorption of nutrients, andsugarwas added to improve the flavor for children. The new breakfast cereals began to look starkly different from their ancestors. Ranger Joe, the first pre-sweetened breakfast cereal of sugar-coated puffed wheat or rice, was introduced in the US in 1939.Kellogg'sSugar Smacks, created in 1953, had 56% sugar by weight.Different mascots were introduced, such as theRice Krispieselvesand later pop icons likeTony the Tigerand theTrix Rabbit.
A January 2025 study in theAmerican Journal of Preventive Medicineexamined cereal purchases from 77,000 U.S. households over nine years alongside Nielsen ratings data on advertising exposure. The study found that ads targeting adults had negligible impact, while those aimed at children strongly correlated with increased purchases of sugary cereals in households with kids. Nine cereals, each with 9 to 12 grams of sugar per serving, dominated the market, accounting for 41% of total cereal bought.
In the 1960s, the modern version ofgranolawas invented and popularized. It evolved from a product calledGranula(similar toGrape Nuts) to the recognizable modern form involving at a minimum: sweetened toasted oats, but also possibly: dried fruit, puffed rice, nuts or chocolate.
Over 2016 to 2017, Americans purchased 3.1 billion boxes of cereal, mostly asready to eatcold cereal.In a $9.8 billion cereal market, cold cereal purchases were 88% of the total (12% for hot cereals), with the overall cereal market declining due to reduced consumption ofsugaranddairy products.Kellogg'sandGeneral Millseach had 30% of themarket sharefor cold cereals.Honey Nut Cheerioswas the leading cold cereal.
The processing of grains helps to separate the bran andcereal germ, but may remove nutrients, such asB vitaminsand dietary fiber.Processing is the modification of a grain or mixture of grains usually taking place in a facility remote from the location where the product is eaten. This distinguishes "breakfast cereals" from foods made from grains modified and cooked in the place where they are eaten.
Breakfast cereals may befortifiedwithdietary mineralsandvitamins. For example, breakfast cereal in Canada may be fortified with specificmicronutrientamounts per 100 grams of cereal, includingthiamin, (2.0 mg),niacin(4.8 mg), andvitamin B6(0.6 mg), among others.
Breakfast cereal companies makegluten-freecereals which are free of anygluten-containing grains. These cereals are targeted for consumers who suffer fromgluten-related disorders, such asceliac disease,non-celiac gluten sensitivityandwheat allergy, among others.Some companies that produce gluten-free cereals includeKellogg's,General Mills,Nature's PathandArrowhead Mills.
Most warm cereals can be classified asporridges, in that they consist of cereal grains which are soaked in hot water, cooked and/or boiled to soften them and make them palatable. Sweeteners, such asbrown sugar, honey, or maple syrup, are often added either by the manufacturer, during cooking, or before eating. Porridge is especially popular in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and England. Porridge became important in Scotland due to the freezing winters. The Scottish people prefer porridge to be made with only water and salt while other prefer creamier substances to be added. Wales had a perfect climate for cultivating oats making porridge common in Welsh households. Ireland mixes porridge with whiskey as a cure for the common cold while England references the dish to the royal family and their traditions.
Common hot cereals in parts of Canada includeoatmeal,Cream of Wheat(and Cream of Rice) andRed River cereal. These hot cereals are typically served with maple syrup or brown sugar and milk or cream.Yogurtis also added to Red River cereal.  Many Canadians also enjoy cereals similar to those in the United States market.
In China, porridges such asrice congee, or those made with other ingredients (including corn meal or millet) are often eaten for breakfast. Eating breakfast cereal has become more important in China and specifically Hong Kong due to the increase of work and decrease in time.
In Greece,cornmealis poured into boiling milk to create a cereal of a thick consistency which is often served to young children. The cereal production in Greece has recently declined.
Oatmeal is a common breakfast in Ireland. Oatmeal and porridge have been consumed in Ireland since the 19th century.
InRussia, a breakfast iskasha, a porridge ofbuckwheat(Russian:гречка,romanized:grechka),farina(Russian:манка,romanized:manka), or other grains. Kasha is found throughout much ofEastern EuropeincludingCroatia, with analogous dishes existing in many wealthier, Westernized cuisines ofCentral Europe, such asPolandandSlovakia, where they are associated primarily with lower socioeconomic status. Russia does not value breakfast cereals as much as other places. Most instances of cereal consumption is due to the desire for weight loss.
Pap is a porridge used in a variety of meals eaten throughout the day. In theAfrikaansculture of descendants of Dutch farmers and FrenchHuguenots, it is usually sprinkled with sugar and then eaten with milk; it can be made to a very stiff consistency so that it forms—what could be described as—a softish lumpy crumble (calledkrummel-pap) or a more creamy porridge consistency (calledslap-pap). It is generally made from maize ("mielie") meal and is sold under various brand names. Taystee Wheat is made into a creamy wheat-based porridge. Porridge brands unique to South Africa include Jungle Oats and Bokomo Maltabella (made from maltedsorghum).In other parts of Africa it is known asugali,bota, andbankuor "makkau".
Scotland is famous for its consumption of oats. In Northern Ireland, the company White's has been milling oats inTandrageesince 1841.England has incorporated porridge in their culture for centuries. Many of the different types of porridge were made specially for the royal family including a type of porridge called "pea porridge". This specific dish was made for King Richard II.
Consumption of breakfast cereal is under preliminary research for the potential to improve nutrition and affect chronic diseases.Regular breakfast cereal consumption is associated with less risk of being overweight orobeseand high-fiber breakfast cereals are associated with a lower risk ofdiabetes.
All images show the final preparation of the named (or described) cereal in a bowl withcow's milkand a spoon, unless stated otherwise.