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A tribute to cereal: Kid tested, mother approved

FILE: Cereals packaging are seen at the grocery store in Las Vegas, United States on November 17, 2023.
Jakub Porzycki
/
Getty Images
Cereals packaging are seen at the grocery store in Las Vegas, United States on November 17, 2023.

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
  • Eddy Chavey: Founder and President of Mr. Breakfast.com and a graduate of the Los Angeles New School of Cooking
  • Deena Shanker: Former Food and Consumer Goods Reporter for Quartz.com
  • Michael Smulders: The late Owner of Bakery on Main in East Hartford
  • Linda Giuca: Freelance writer and former food columnist for The Hartford Courant and co-owner of Alforno restaurant in Old Saybrook

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon MusicTuneInListen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Lydia Brown, Tucker Ives, Betsy Kaplan, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired January 28, 2016.

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Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Colin can be reached at colin@ctpublic.org.