• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

The Living on Earth Almanac

Air Date: Week of

Facts about... breakfast cereal.

Transcript

CURWOOD: Among the odder anniversaries that come our way this year is the centennial of the introduction of Grape Nuts. Mr. C. W. Post came up with the name for the breakfast cereal because he thought erroneously that grape sugar was formed during the production process. Mr. Post also thought the cereal could cure everything this side of appendicitis. He was the latest in a succession of 19th century dietary prophets who reformed how Americans ate. Before Mr. Post and others, including W. K. Kellogg, William Metcalf, and Sylvester Graham, Americans ate mostly meat and fowl for all their meals. Post and Company urged people to try grains and fresh fruits. Today, nearly half of all Americans start the day with cold cereal. As a nation, we buy nearly 3 billion boxes of breakfast cereal each year. Much of it is sweetened to the tune of 816 million pounds of sugar, or 3 pounds for every American. And for this week, that's the Living on Earth Almanac.

 

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

Creating positive outcomes for future generations.

Innovating to make the world a better, more sustainable place to live. Listen to the race to 9 billion

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth