Kellogg Brothers and Post Pioneer Affordable, Nutritious Breakfast Foods

Grape-Nuts actually is a misnomer; the cereal is made of wheat and barley. Post believed that sucrose, which he called grape sugar, was formed during baking. The idea of grapes combined with the nutty flavor of the cereal led to its name. The original preparation was a batter baked into a rigid sheet, and then crumbled into pieces before processing by a coffee grinder to produce nut-sized kernels, according to Post Foods.

The cereal was first marketed as a natural product for health and vitality as well as a brain food. Lightweight, compact, nutritional, and spoil-resistant, it became a popular food for explorers and people on expeditions in the 1920s and 1930s and was later adopted as a jungle ration for some U.S. and Allied Forces before 1944, according to Wikipedia.

The Inventors

Post was worth $33 million at the time he committed suicide. Born in Springfield, Ill., he graduated from public schools and enrolled at Illinois Industrial University, now the University of Illinois at Urbana. He studied only two years before leaving.⁸

He worked as an agricultural machinery salesman, inventing and patenting several farm implements including a plow and hay-stacking machine. According to Wikipedia, he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1885, then moved to Texas the following year to help start a new community in Riverside. He had a second breakdown in 1891, again due to work-related stress, and traveled extensively in search of a cure. He became interested in the chemistry of digestion as a possible solution and visited Battle Creek Sanitarium, where he met Dr. Kellogg before starting his own company. In 1913, after suffering from stomach pains, he shot himself to death after unsuccessfully seeking a medical remedy.⁹

Dr. Kellogg, who graduated from New York University Medical College at Bellevue Hospital in 1875 with a medical degree, is best known for his work at Battle Creek Sanitarium and for being a Seventh-day Adventist until he was disfellowshipped in 1907 after disagreements with the church. At the sanitarium, he used holistic methods to treat patients, with a focus on nutrition. He had many renowned patients, including former President William Howard Taft, aviator Amelia Earhart, Nobel prize winning playwright George Bernard Shaw, founder of the Ford Motor Co. Henry Ford, and inventor Thomas Edison.

Although their relationships soured over business, Post and the Kellogg brothers left behind a tremendous legacy in the food industry. Today their names are still well-recognized brands around the world, and products sold under their names reach countless numbers of consumers around the world, which is a testament to how one idea can change the eating habits of billions.

Lori Valigra is a frequent writer for Food Quality. Reach her at [email protected].

References

1. THE ARMY RATION; A Good Suggestion from an Old Soldier. New York Times. Oct. 11, 1905.
2. 200 Years of Military Food Slang. Pressure Cooker Diaries. Available at http://www.pressurecookerdiaries.com/food-history/military-food-slang.
3. Granula, the First Ready-to-Eat Cereal. Civil War Talk. Available at http://civilwartalk.com/threads/granula-the-first-ready-to-eat-cereal.75757/.
4. Timeline of United States inventions (before 1890). Wikipedia. Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_inventions_(before_1890).
5. Grape-Nuts. Wikipedia. Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape-Nuts.
6. The Making of Kellogg’s Breakfast Cereals. The Kellogg Company. Available at http://www.kelloggs.com.au/Home/Company/StudyCentre/MakingKelloggsCereal/CornFlakes/tabid/117/Default.aspx.
7. Grape-Nuts. Post Foods. Available at http://www.postfoods.com/post_heritage/#/period/1/.
8. Charles W. Post. Wikipedia. Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ C._W._Post.
9. Post, Charles William. Texas State Historical Association. Available at http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpo26.