Cereal

Oats, barley, and some food products made from cereal grains.

A bowl of breakfast cereal with a cup of coffee.

Cereal usually refers to a type of grass that is grown to be eaten. Some, such as wheat, are mostly used to feed people. Some are fed to cattle, and lesser amounts are used for other purposes.

Breakfast cereal is a common breakfast meal in the United States. It is made of grain, usually eaten with milk, and often sweetened with sugar, syrup, or fruit.^[1]

The word "cereal" comes from 'Ceres', the name of the Roman goddess of harvest and agriculture. Grains are called corn in the United Kingdom and Ireland, but in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand corn means maize.

History

In the 19th century, Americans typically ate meat for breakfast, not grains or fiber. But after that, people who were interested in eating more healthy foods began a push for healthy breakfasts.^[2]

In 1863, Granula became the first breakfast cereal. The name Granula comes from granulates, formed of grain. It included heavy nuggets made from bran, the outer husk of a grain that is taken out when making flour. The cereal had to be soaked overnight before being eaten. Simply pouring milk over it was not enough to make it eatable.^[2]

The cereals eaten today grew out of a health campaign that began in the 1860s. Thin baked dough served to patients in hospitals inspired two men, C.W. Post and W. K. Kellogg. These two men started their own companies, named them after themselves.^[2]

Cereal Media

Harvesting a cereal with a combine harvester accompanied by a tractor and trailer.
Cereal grains: (top) pearl millet, rice, barley(middle) sorghum, maize, oats(bottom) millet, wheat, rye, triticale
Rice fields in India. India's participation in the Green Revolution helped resolve food shortages in the mid-twentieth century.
Structure of a cereal, wheat. A: Plant; B ripe ear of grains; 1 spikelet before flowering; 2 the same, flowering and spread, enlarged; 3 flowers with glumes; 4 stamens 5 pollen; 6 and 7 ovaries with juice scales; 8 and 9 parts of the scar; 10 fruit husks; 11–14 grains, natural size and enlarged.
Sources of variation in cereal production, 1964–2023.
Newly planted rice in a paddy field
Fusarium graminearum damages many cereals, here wheat, where it causes wheat scab (right).
An indigenous Mexican woman prepares maize tortillas, 2013