The History of Your Cereal

You might be eating a bowl of cereal right now.The milk might be sticking to your tongue and the sugar drawing you down into a path of scooping out more.With several cereal brands making their way down to our bowls every morning,who was responsible for the one with the geometrical looking chicken on the cover—Kelloggs.

Kellogg's has spead to over 180 countries and has continued selling it products for over a century.

You would have possibly heard of Kellogg’s,the company has a foot everywhere being around for over a century.They’re also not just interested in selling you cereal also,they make other sugary treats like granola bars and cookies.I also beckon you to check on your tea boxes and soup cans for your meal menu may be owned by Kellogg’s.

Dr.John Harvey Kellogg

As Kellogg’s is already littered everywhere in this article,this story began in Battle Creek,Michigan with two brothers named John Harvey Kellogg and William Keith Kellogg.

William Keith Kellogg

John Harvey Kellogg being a doctor at the Battle Creek Sanitarium,drew a hypothesis that pre-prepared grain could also aid in digestion.By pre-preparation,they baked grain dough at a high temperature till the starch reduced to a simple sugar known as dextrose.The new invention which was dubbed granose by the patients of the Sanitarium,was patented on April 14,1896.

The Battle Creek Sanitarium was built in 1866 and was named the Western Health Reform Institute.It burned down in 1902 and was rebuilt completely with its towers in 1928 and closed down in 1930.12 years later,it was used to create the Percy Jones Army Hospital.It is now known as the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center.

The two brothers later split up with W.K Kellogg going on to establish the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company in 1906 and J.H Kellogg going on to build the sanitarium after its tragic burning in 1902.Another for the rift was W.K Kellogg’s act of covering up the surface of the flakes with sugar.

Eating processed grain causes a sugar spike followed by an increase in insulin.This spike leads to a quick loss of energy and hunger.

Though this seems like an unnecessary,little detail,John Harvey,being a vegetarian himself believed that consuming bland food would keep patients from flaring up their ‘passions’.It was also said that he slept in a different room from his wife and adopted all of their forty-two children.

Dietitian Ella Kellogg was the wife of John Harvey Kellogg,she graduated from Alfred's University and the American School of Household Economics.She worked in the hospital alongside her husband developing the cereal.

John Harvey’s life was also going down in a different path as due to developing pantheistic views he had to leave the Adventist church in 1907.He later moved down to Florida and opened up another Sanitarium,later passing away in 1942.

Kellogg's headquarters in Battle Creek,Michigan

W.K.Kellogg’s company which is still present in Battle Creek where it all began has acquired other ventures to add to their growth over the years now producing a variety of non-dairy products with snacks and also breakfast foods.