Most Americans have started out their day with breakfast cereal at some point.
Americans buy 2.7 billion packages of breakfast cereal each year, and consume about 10 pounds or 160 bowls of cereal per person per year, according to the book "Cerealizing America: The Unsweetened Story of American Breakfast Cereal." The United States ranks fourth in per capita cereal consumption behind Ireland, England and Australia.
Cheerios
"Cheerioats" was America's first ready-to-eat oat cereal. Introduced in 1941 by General Mills, the cereal's name was changed in 1945 to "Cheerios." The cereal is known for its small doughnut shape and light, oaty texture and flavor and its bright yellow packaging. Over the cereal's history, many different varieties of Cheerios have come onto the market, some successful and some retired soon after they were launched. Just some of the varieties include: Honey Nut Cheerios, MultiGrain Cheerios, Banana Nut Cheerios, Frosted Cheerios and Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, all of which you can still find at stores as of 2011.
Kellogg's Corn Flakes
W.K. Kellogg, along with his brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, created the world's first "corn flakes" by accident in the late 1800's at a hospital and health spa. W.K. Kellogg continued developing the process for flaking corn and launched the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company in 1906, which eventually became the Kellogg Company. Kellogg's Corn Flakes ready-to-eat cereal is recognizable for its white box featuring a rooster's profile in red and green.
Lucky Charms
When most Americans hear the line "They're magically delicious," they probably think of General Mills' Lucky Charms cereal and its famous leprechaun mascot, Lucky. The cereal consists of frosted oats and multicolored marshmallows in different "lucky" shapes including clovers, moons, horseshoes, hearts and stars. Lucky Charms launched in 1964 and is made with whole grain.
Rice Krispies
Kellogg's introduced its famous "talking" cereal, Rice Krispies, to consumers in 1927. When you pour milk into a bowl of the cereal, the crispy cereal makes a crackling sound, hence its tagline, "Snap, crackle and pop!" According to LiveScience.com, the reason for the sound is that air pockets form in each piece of rice during the manufacturing process. When milk is poured over the kernels, it puts pressure on the air inside until the walls of the air pockets shatter, forcing out the sound. Rice Krispies cereal is also the major ingredient in the famous American party snack, the Rice Krispies Treat.
Quaker Oats
Formed officially in 1901, the Quaker Oats Company is known by its familiar round packaging containing the image of a man in Quaker garb. In the early 1920s, the company introduced Quaker Quick Oats, oatmeal that could be cooked in five minutes instead of the usual 20 minutes. In the 1950s, the process was refined to produce its famed one-minute cooking oats. Quaker Oats is also known for its U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved health claim that says oatmeal may help reduce the risk of heart disease as part of low saturated fat, low cholesterol diet.
Tags: Rice Krispies, Lucky Charms, Quaker Oats, breakfast cereal, Corn Flakes, General Mills, Kellogg Corn
