Cerealizing America: The Unsweetened Story of American Breakfast Cereal

by Scott Bruce, Bill Crawford

Breakfast cereal has a colorful past that has remained hidden--until now. Part expose, part celebration, Cerealizing America strips the sugar coating from the history of American breakfast culture to reveal the origin and evolution of America's obsession with health, hucksterism, and toy surprises.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Food

312 pages, Hardcover

First published March 23, 1995

Reviews

[Javier Viruete · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a kid flipping through some imported American comic book, one of the things that caught my eye was those colourful ads for breakfast cereals, with vivid claims of flashy licenses, inside-the-box giveaways or aggressive promotions.

This book tells the story of breakfast cereals in America, through their invention and development, with an interesting emphasis on marketing and advertising.

A fascinating history of one of the most consumed products in the USA in which we will learn who were its protagonists and the interesting evolution and paradigm shifts suffered for more than 100 years and how they went from something healthy to a super sugary snack.

I only regret the scarcity of photographs that would have given the master touch to it.

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Cuando de niño conseguía hojear algun comic book americano de importación, una de las cosas que más me llamaba la atención era esos coloridos anuncios de cereales para el desayuno, con vívidos reclamos de licencias llamativas, regalos en el interior de la caja o promociones agresivas.

Este libro cuenta la historia de los cereales para el desayuno en America, pasando por su invención y su desarrollo , haciendo un interesante énfasis en el márketing y en la publicidad.

Una historia fascinante de uno de los productos más consumidos en USA en la que aprenderemos quienes fueron sus protagonistas y la interesante evolución y cambios de paradigma sufridos durante más de 100 años y como pasaron de algo saludable a un snack super azucarado.

Solo lamentar la escasez de fotografías que le hubieran dado el toque maestro a lo mismo

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breakfast cereal began as a health reform in the 1800s, as various health gurus such as Dr. Kellogg tried to develop a grain-based breakfast that would be better than such conventional American breakfasts as salt pork. By the 20th century, this was a cutthroat arena where Kelloggs, Post and General Mills battled for market share using advertising and such once-famous spokescharacters as Sunny Jim (for Force cereal)—the precursors of Cap'n Crunch, Lucky the Leprechaun, the Trix Rabbit and Count Chocula. Even though there are sections of this I know (I'm familiar with the Kellogg origin story) it was both informative and entertaining.

[Shaun Steven Struble · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the information a lot. Unfortunately, I found certain parts of the history glossed over. Only one paragraph or two about the major advancement that was marbits? So many cereals wouldn't be without marshmallows. Starts good, ending feels rushed.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of information but did pull out some interesting facts.