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.

It is a common breakfast meal. The kind of cereal eaten for breakfast is called breakfast cereal. This is made of grain, and usually eaten with milk in the United States.^[1] It is 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 ate meat a lot for breakfast and usually did not eat grains and fiber. But after that, people who were interested in eating more healthy foods began a push for healthy breakfasts.^[2]

This brought up the creation of Granula. The name Granula comes from granulates, formed of grain. In 1863 this became the first breakfast cereal and 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

Dried Cereal grains and other similar products in Glass jars in the Herbarium collection at Leiden
Pearl millet, rice, barley Sorghum, maize, oats Millet, wheat, rye, triticale
Planting of rice on a paddy field
Zambia, peeling maize
Map of rice production (average percentage of land used for its production times average yield in each grid cell) across the world compiled by the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment with data from: Monfreda, C., N. Ramankutty, and J.A. Foley. 2008.
Map of wheat production (average percentage of land used for its production times average yield in each grid cell) across the world compiled by the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment with data from: Monfreda, C., N. Ramankutty, and J.A. Foley. 2008.