Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-03-28
THE DIETARY REVOLUTION,
Caused by the introduction Of Fancy
Cereals

Caused by the Introduction Of Fancy
Cereals.
New York INDEPENDENTLY change
the food habit of nation is almost as
difficult as to change its language. A
race clings as tenacious1y to it's diet
as to it's deities So long as cooking
was household art handed down
from mother to daughter this culinary
conservatism was inevitable But
now the factory system has robbed the
shrine of Vesta of its traditional pre-
negatives. Cooking is done outside
of the home and digesting outside Of
the stomach To teach a million
housewives new tricks is practically
impossible, but as soon as the prepa-
ration of any kind of food passes into
the hands of few skilled and inven
tive individuals it begins to make
progress. To say that the. demand
creates the supply" is to put the cart
before the horse. The demand does
not create the supply, it is the supply
that creates the demand.
A good example of this is the intro
duction of prepared cereal foods 1t
cannot be said that 20 years ago the
people Of the United States began
suddenly to banker after lot of fancy
foods that nobody had ever heard Of
Not at all. 1t was simply that a few
progressive manufacturers discovered
that it was possible to create an ap-
petite for new food by advertising.
On the billboards and in the maya
zines kindly old gentlemen, pretty
maidens and chubby children con-
spired to induce us to partake of
health beauty and benevolence. By
these methods the manufacturers Of
cereal products exerted an important
influence on American life and letters.
For some years periodical literature
was fed on breakfast foods, just as
now it is run by automobiles.
OF course this dietary revolution
for the introduction of the fancy cere-
ais Is nothing less-has cost millions,
but it could hardly have been accom-
plished in any cheaper way. A large
proportion of our population has been
converted to the breakfast-food habit
In a marvelously Short time. or
course they have paid for their con-
version, but it is quite proper that
they should. The gain in health, time
and money by the partial substitution
of convenient and nutritious cereals
for the more or less indigestible and
time-consuming products on which we
used to feed is incalculable. The
revolution has extended to other
meals. We see the lunch counters OF
the downtown district stacked high
with pictured packages where once
there was only to be found sinners, :
wedges" and that popular comestble
invented by Sir John Montagu. earl of
Sandwich, to stay him during long Par
liamentary sessions. One of the
chief advantages Of the new cereals
from hygienic standpoint is undoubt-
eddy that one is not liable to overeat
IL he confines his diet to them.
Now that these new forms OF cereals
have become deservedly popular it
will do no harm to admit that they
were mostly introduced under false
pretenses. Like all other reforms lie
dawn was more roseat .han the ligat
of the common day IT ush0a'ed in. We
have said that this reform cf our food
habits was worth all tne money 1t
cost, but TO say that it was worth all
the prevarication 1t cost world sub
ject us to the charge Of jeguitry.
However. II viii be safe to say that