COLD CEREAL

Looking southward across the Snake River to Clarkston

Rosauer's Supermarket had one of their famous 13-hour cereal sales on Thursday (Sept. 2), one of three such sales the store sponsors annually. They sell a lot of cereal at $1.69 per box. Mike and I were there selecting boxes of cereal based on the sat fat and fiber content. We were there at 11:00 and it was crowded. "You should have seen it when we were busy," commented the stocker.

As I was growing up in the 1950s, the family gathered around the table for breakfast as for any other meal. My dad, an old farmboy, believed in the benefits of three square meals a day, breakfast included, eaten family style. I remember breakfast was frequently a pot of hot cereal – oatmeal, cream of wheat, and wheat hearts, but several times a week we had eggs and bacon (served with toast, biscuits, muffins, or pancakes). And, to add to your eating pleasure, farm cream and homemade jams and jellies were standard on our table. My dad was the morning chef. The quick breakfast was hot cereal and toast with juice and milk. During that era, these breakfasts were thought to be nutritious and food that would stay with you until lunch. It did not matter to my parents that I was not fond of hot cereal. I was expected to eat what was set before me.

"You need a breakfast that sticks to your ribs," my mother said. She disapproved of cold cereal as lacking in nutrition. "You have to eat a lot of it to fill you up," she said, "and then you're hungry mid-morning. And," she added, "it's expensive."

I do remember a box or two of cold cereal on the shelf in my childhood -- specifically cornflakes and shredded wheat biscuits. That was the emergency breakfast – though I can honestly say there was hardly ever an emergency in that well-ordered home. Sometimes I was allowed a bowl of cold cereal before bed.

Sage brush blooms in the water-wise Clarkston garden

The other night Mike and I watched a program on the history and development of cold cereal – the battle at Battle Creek, as it were, which occurred late in the 19^th century and early in the 20^th. We were surprised at the overall tone of the program, which set forth cold cereal as a nutritious product. We agreed that our mothers did not believe cold cereal was nutritious or part of a healthy diet.

But things change – and we are now cereal eaters at our house. In the first place, I am not a morning chef. I would rather have a quick breakfast and get on with things than spend time cooking when I'm hungry. I'm sure my children were the losers. Some pretty awful breakfast cereal passed through my cupboard. Hallie ate Cocoa Puffs for years. And then 10 years ago or so Mike became concerned about high cholesterol. A granola-eater of 25 years standing, he began to consider the sat fat content of anything he ate. It was then I said, "You can eat whatever you want for breakfast, including hot cereal, but you fix it and don't include me in." (I really don't care for hot cereal, except oatmeal.) So he did – and he does. Breakfast is "on your own" at my house. We have a variety of hot and cold cereals on hand and you may help yourself. Feel free to read the paper while you munch away. No tv, please. And do try to be cheerful. 

Another Nellie action shot

I think one of the main health benefits of cereal is the fiber, and we read labels to be sure of the fiber and fat content. Mike is less concerned about fiber because he eats two to three oat bran muffins a day as part of his anti-cholesterol plan. These are not the big oat bran muffins with streusel topping that you buy at the bakery. Far from it! Mike uses a recipe similar to that on the back of the Quaker oat bran box, which calls for no flour – just the oat bran. He also takes the responsibility for baking the muffins, though I don't mind doing it. (But if he doesn't use paper baking cups, he has to wash the muffin trays.) KW