Book Review: The Great American Cereal Book: How Breakfast Got Its Crunch

Breakfast book of champions

Pop culture fans will love this. A chunky book telling you all you need to know about a few simple agri products that must have generated billions of dollars over the decades. The two authors have devised a neat fun format for the four hundred entries: eleven categories from 'Brought to you by: manufacturer'; 'First poured: cereal launch year' to 'Crunch on this: facts about the cereal'. Historically it covers cereals from 1863 to 2010.

What I liked about the book were the pack shots presented as cutouts, frequently page size. Several pages feature lists and printed ephemera from past decades. It's worth saying that only cereals made by General Mills, Kellogg's, Nabisco, Nestle, Post, Quaker Oats and Ralston are included but this surely must be most of the market.

Cereals must be a hard market to crack considering the number of failed brands. What chance would anyone give these of succeeding: Ooobopperoos (Nabisco 1972) Grins & Smiles & Giggles & Laughs (Ralston 1975) Spider-Man (Ralston 1995) Spider-Man (Kellogg's 202) Spider-Man 3 (General Mills 2007) well, they disappeared in no time. The chapter dealing with 1981 to 2010 reveals that the companies will clutch at anything, especially entertainment and celebrities to launch a new brand. Page 290 has a pack shot of HULK Limited Edition Cereal from 2003 to tie in with the Universal movie. Despite the gone in a flash brands others just keep on pouring. A hundred years or older are Nabisco Shredded Wheat, Grape-nuts, Puffed Wheat and Corn Flakes. Eighty years or older are All-bran, Post 40% Bran Flakes, Wheaties and Rice Krispies. Even Trix and Special K have been here for over fifty years.

Overall a fun read in a very nicely presented book, especially the dozens of pack shots. A very minor criticism is that the paper is rather thick preventing the book from being opened flat

The Great American Cereal Book: How Breakfast Got Its Crunch is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

One of several spreads that look at a cereal in depth.

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