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Lileks: Back when kids were kids and breakfast meant a sugar high
Mpls. Star Tribune ^ | 9/23/11 | James Lileks

Posted on 09/23/2011 9:10:13 AM PDT by rhema

Local foodstuff mega-company General Mills, which was formed in 1904 by the merger of Specific Mills and Vague Mills, announced that its profits have been hit by high ingredient costs.

There's the price of corn, which previously had one purpose: being eaten as corn. Now it's used for high-fructose corn syrup, which some say will give a brick diabetes if soaked long enough, and it's used in plastics, as people who subscribe to the Star Tribune's popular "dog-waste disposal system" know. (It's a great deal -- sign up for daily bag delivery and we'll include a newspaper inside at no charge.) And there's ethanol, of course. So the price goes up, and a box of cereal shrinks until you're paying four bucks for something the size of a paperback book.

Perhaps General Mills has deeper problems. The ingenious joy that once fueled the breakfast cereal industry seems to have sputtered and died, replaced by a grim insistence that you eat so much fiber it starts shooting out your cuffs like hay from an overstuffed scarecrow.

Anyone who spends a lot of time in the cereal aisle, trying to decide which indistinguishable fiber-fortified stuff is cheaper this week, gets a twinge of nostalgia for the days when cereals boasted that they were sweetened. Promised it. Fortified with Dextrose! Gives you energy! So does licking a nuclear fuel rod, you say, and that's not healthy. Granted.

But no one's introduced a sugary-cereal mascot for decades, not since Cookie Crisp's fat happy baker. (I think they realized they crossed the line with that one.)

In the old days you had basic cereals that were aimed at adults who were perfectly capable of adding sugar, thank you, and a few grim, joyless brands aimed at old men who believed that economic problems were

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: Minnesota
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To: rhema

Is there a cereal without sugar, beside Grape Nuts? I did find Post Shredded Wheat without sugar. Instead it had butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) - a suspected carcinogen - added for preservation’s sake.

Who’s going to preserve our lives? BHT is in many cereals and other supposedly for-human-consmption foods. I bet the executives at the food companies don’t feed that stuff to their kids or themselves.


21 posted on 09/23/2011 9:52:11 AM PDT by RoadTest (Organized religion is no substitute for the relationship the living God wants with you.)
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To: Liz
Speaking of SNL commercials...

...somebody at Quaker obviously grew up watching the original cast.

Little Chocolate Donuts. Breakfast of Champions.

22 posted on 09/23/2011 9:54:05 AM PDT by RichInOC (Palin 2012: The Perfect Storm.)
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To: rhema

Quisp and Quake.

Anyone here remember those?


23 posted on 09/23/2011 9:54:15 AM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: qam1; ItsOurTimeNow; PresbyRev; Fraulein; StoneColdGOP; Clemenza; m18436572; InShanghai; xrp; ...
Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.

24 posted on 09/23/2011 10:21:42 AM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: Disambiguator

I think Quisp is still available.


25 posted on 09/23/2011 10:22:09 AM PDT by stbdside
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To: Disambiguator

26 posted on 09/23/2011 10:30:11 AM PDT by AAABEST (Et lux in tenebris lucet: et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt)
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To: stbdside

Yes, it is.

My wife found a box at a dollar store not too long ago.


27 posted on 09/23/2011 10:37:35 AM PDT by WayneS (Don't Blame Me, I voted for Kodos!)
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To: rhema

I used to be a fanatic for Lucky Charms. Then I downgraded to Raisin Bran when I joined the military. Now that I will retire I absolutely love Cheerios with milk; no sugar!


28 posted on 09/23/2011 11:08:30 AM PDT by rfreedom4u (Forced diversity causes dissent!)
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To: freeangel

I’m 52 and I still have to have......

Cap’n Crunch and Lucky Charms


29 posted on 09/23/2011 11:09:46 AM PDT by fredhead (I'm not sleeping, I'm checking my eyelids for cracks.)
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To: rhema

Lileks ping! Dude’s a genius.


30 posted on 09/23/2011 11:14:34 AM PDT by bootless (Never Forget. Never Again. (PursuingLiberty.com))
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To: rhema; Tigerized

“...Captain Crunch, which had the same effect on the roof of your mouth as a spoonful of screws...”

Exactly.


31 posted on 09/23/2011 11:19:54 AM PDT by bootless (Never Forget. Never Again. (PursuingLiberty.com))
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To: stayathomemom

We had a cowbell. Really!


32 posted on 09/23/2011 11:21:53 AM PDT by bootless (Never Forget. Never Again. (PursuingLiberty.com))
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To: cuban leaf
Anybody remember, “come home when the street lights come on.”?

Oh yeah. And I remember that ANY parent in the neighborhood could discipline you and your parents would be mortified. Not because they did it but becaused you acted in a way that required it.

33 posted on 09/23/2011 11:22:58 AM PDT by Drill Thrawl (0 - 537 They ALL must go.)
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To: Constitution Day

Looks like James is back at the (Red)Star!


34 posted on 09/23/2011 11:49:33 AM PDT by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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To: rhema

While I personally remember Sugar Jets, Puffa Puffa Rice, Kellog’s OKs and other brands my favorite is still Calvin & Hobbes’ CHOCOLATE FROSTED SUGAR BOMBS!

As kids, my mom made chocolate gravy for us at breakfast. then we were unleashed on the school system! WOW!


35 posted on 09/23/2011 12:07:18 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Click my name. See my home page, if you dare! NEW PHOTOS & PAINTINGS)
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To: cuban leaf

My mom had a signature whistle so we knew when to come eat but after dinner, during the summers and on weekends we played half the night. We played a game called Ditch ‘em and lots of others but what a life. My grandkids can only imagine how much fun we had.


36 posted on 09/23/2011 12:10:12 PM PDT by tiki
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To: RoadTest

I think that is one of those ingredients that has been known to cause cancer...in California but not in the rest of the states.


37 posted on 09/23/2011 12:13:36 PM PDT by tiki
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To: fredhead
I’m 52 and I still have to have...... Cap’n Crunch and Lucky Charms

My husband bought a box of Cap'n Crunch once. I took one bite and threw the rest of the box out. Now, Lucky Charms, on the other hand, are magically delicious! I keep a box on hand when my 83 year old mother in law comes to visit.

38 posted on 09/23/2011 12:26:49 PM PDT by stayathomemom (Beware of kittens modifying your posts.)
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To: rfreedom4u
Now that I will retire I absolutely love Cheerios with milk; no sugar!

Whole Grain Oats, Modified Corn Starch, Sugar....

I love ´em too though...with 2% milk, of course.

Best....

39 posted on 09/23/2011 7:03:55 PM PDT by onedoug (If)
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To: cuban leaf

Actually, it was “be home for dinner time”.

Then if you played after, it would be until twilight.


40 posted on 09/23/2011 7:38:43 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Technological progress cannot be legislated.)
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