We once did a show about beer jingles, which is a great example of how a product becomes a culture. Cereal as a culture, is off the charts. There's the box, there's the prize, there's the character, there's the jingles, there's the commercials. Most of us can probably sing some jingles and discuss favorite cereal personae from our childhoods, which makes it kind of weird when marketing experts tell us that cereal consumption is in decline.
Who are we without cereal. It has been a staple of the American breakfast since Dr. John Kellogg first tried to purify the traditional American breakfast of veal, oysters, and wild pigeon with his first flakes.
Today, we talk about cereal with our guests, we eat cereal, and we try to rekindle our love of cereal.
GUESTS:
- Topher Ellis - Cereal historian and co-author with Marty Gitlin of The Great American Cereal Book: How Cereal Got Its Crunch. He’s also the editor of Boxtops, the longest running cereal newsletter.
- Eddie Chavey - Founder and President of Mr. Breakfast.com and a graduate of the Los Angeles New School of Cooking
- Deena Shanker - Food and Consumer Goods Reporter for Quartz.com
- Michael Smulder - Owner of Bakery on Main in East Hartford
- Linda Giuca - Freelance writer and food columnist for the Hartford Courant and co-owner of Alforno restaurant in Old Saybrook
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Lydia Brown, Tucker Ives, Betsy Kaplan, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired January 28, 2016.
