Talk:Breakfast cereal

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[edit] Comments

How are cold breakfast cereals made? (The sub-question is: "Why is cereal so expensive?") -- Ke4roh 02:36, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I believe most of the expense of breakfast cereal stems from it's marketing type. They market to young children who have no concept of expense, who then also pester their parents until they purchase some. Thus it is an artificially price-inelastic market where greater marketing efforts, not lower prices, will increase sales. See "Malt-O-meal" for a demonstration of how the inverse is difficult to market. Jesset77 06:33, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Sugar Smacks -- 56% sugar?!

Can somebody verify the statement about the level of sugar in the original 1953 Sugar Smacks? 56% sugar just seems like too much to be realistic.

It doesn't sound too high to me, but it needs a reference still. Ansell 01:49, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
56% by weight or volume? --Kvuo 07:24, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
Well, sugar is in the name. I did find a reference from a diabetic/diet website. [1]

--Moop stick | (Talk) 23:43, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

53% isn't high at all. I agree it needs to be verified, but really, if you take some low calorie puffed rice, and roll it in a sugar/corn syrup covering, it's not too hard to see 56% of the calories coming from sugar. It's not going to be fat or protein...

[edit] American bias and company orientation

The article is biased to american companies and their products. Needs to be cleaned up so that it is about breakfast cereals, not just about the companies that make them. Ansell 01:49, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I've removed this tag. Breakfast cereal is an American invention and has yet to catch on with most of the world, so it stands to reason that it's going to have an American focus. If you have something to add about cold cereal in other places, feel free to do so. I have, however, reformatted the article to give equal space to hot cereal. That will likely include more information about cereal grains as breakfast foods outside the US. Kafziel Talk 13:44, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
I don't agree that it has yet to catch on anywhere else. Cold cereal with fresh milk is huge in Britain, but this article focuses only on American companies and histories and has nothing on UK or European cereal. Nestlé gets one small mention at the start of the article. Don't comment on places outside the US if you're making it up.

In Supermarkets in the United States a huge amount of shelf-space is devoted to cold cereal. I actually don't eat the stuff so I've never really thought to look for it, but I've never noticed an aisle devoted to Captain Crunch, Rice Krispies, et al in Italy or Germany or Japan. I don't mean to argue the point; I really don't know, but I find the product fascinating. I personally do eat "hot cereal" (oatmeal mostly) but I think most Americans think of cold cereal as a different category of food. Thomas144 20:38, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

If you have actually been to Europe (I'm not sure about Japan but as you see all the offers they get in their cereal it's a safe bet) you'll find that in most countries, sections are devoted to Breakfast Cereal, we do generally sort things into seperate catagories...we are not all backward hicks outside of the USA. Cereal has caught on in many countries and is more tham just an 'American' food, it's a wordlwide staple. This article like much of Wikipedia is too US-centric and does need some changing for it to represent a worldwide view. Sigurd Dragon Slayer (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 12:30, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Just came across this article. Thomas144 is incorrect in his belief that cold cereal is a US invention and has yet to catch on anywhere else. He has obviously never been anywhere else. Breakfast cereals, cold and hot, have been around for hundreds of years, and didn't just start when Kelloggs opened their doors. For example, Muesli is a cold cereal, invented in Switzerland (that's in Europe, not in the USA). Entire aisles can be found selling cereal in supermarkets all over the world. The article also needs a proper history section, and the USA bias needs to be removed. I'll work on this over the next few days/weeks. Help appreciated! Bardcom (talk) 10:40, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] A Question and Kix is by General Mills

According to Kix (cereal), an engineer at General Mills invented the puffing gun that was used to make the first puffed cereal, Kix. This article implies that Kix is by Kellogg's and that Kellogg invented the puffing gun (which would be different from the concept or the procedure of puffing). Also, I heard somewhere that there are only four types of cereal or something: flakes, puffed, shredded, and something else. I'd make these changes myself, but I am by no means an expert on this and wanted more references than just another Wikipedia page. Thanks guys. :)

[edit] Relevance of Cereal moments in American History

While the title of the section sounds actually good and purposeful, the actual content is very random. Why does Rice Krispies matter more than other cereals not listed? It just seems like a odd little section that needs, to me, needs rethought. Nicholas 19:02, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

After skimming the chronological listing, I believe that the "highlights" are not important to the article as a whole. I vote that the section be deleted. Olego 05:47, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
Interestingly, the history of different American breakfast cereals are quite related (see John Harvey Kellogg and C.W. Post. I think this section gives too much unimportant information, and should either be made in to a single paragraph, or moved to a different article. But the story should be told somewhere. --Vince |Talk| 16:40, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

I like the chronological history. I think the subject, cold cereal, is very interesting and would make an excellent book. Thomas144 14:33, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Nutritional Aspects of Cereal

How about a section on, well, the title above. While fiber is mentioned, what other benefits do they offer? I'm no expert here, but I hear they're great for complex-carbs, among other things. 69.234.147.140 05:57, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Silly article=

My goodness, why would an encyclopedia need an article on breakfast cereal? This is the silliest article I have seen so far on Wikipedia. If fllipancy is the aim then this is spot on but I don't think Wikipedia is supposed to be a source of humour. 89.242.159.92 21:34, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

It's not silly at all: I came to wikipedia curious about the origin of cold cereal specifically, which as far as I know is an American phenomenon. In the United States, many people think some form of cold cereal is a normal breakfast, which is odd for a number of reasons, not least of which is it has very little nutritional value, is extremely expensive, and is no where near as popular anywhere else. Why do Americans eat cold cereal? Thomas144 14:31, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

I agree it's not at all silly. I am sure that most people in England eat cereal for breakfast, rather than a grease laden fry-up. Is it an anglophone phenomenon ? How widespread is muesli - a non-US version ? -- Beardo 22:20, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
I'm sure every major encyclopedia has some article on breakfast cereal. While many commercial brands of cereal are unhealthy, there are a number of high-fiber, high-protein, low sugar whole grain varieties available. 152.3.85.176 22:44, 6 August 2007 (UTC) 152.3.85.176 22:43, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] No history section?

eh?--AnY FOUR! 01:14, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Why is the etymology of "cereal" not mentioned at all in this article?

The "cereal" and "breakfast cereal" articles have NOTHING in common and are not cross-referenced. This article is strictly about boxed commercial breakfast cereal products and includes no information whatsoever about cereal in general or the overall concept of cereal. F-. 71.131.213.157 09:50, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Heart failure

A study that we are likely to see quoted on boxes of cornflakes very soon: eating breakfast cereal protects against heart failure. JFW | T@lk 05:50, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Shredded Wheat vs Kix

I would just like to mention that this article states that "By the 1930s, the first puffed cereal, Kix, was on the market. Soon shredding was introduced, yielding Shredded Wheat." However, if you click on Shredded Wheat, it states that it was invented in 1893, well before the 1930s. Just a thought. I also think this article could use a brief mention of vitamin fortification, specifically when it began and any effects on vitamin deficiencies or malnutrition in the US. 20:00 EST, November 4, 2007

fish sticks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.29.106.134 (talk) 04:55, 30 May 2008 (UTC)