Cereals have always been a staple in almost every home for as long as they existed. Sometimes they were basic like Quaker Oates or Corn Flakes, and other times they were fun and fruity like Sugar Crisp, Apple Jacks, Fruit Loops, Count Chocula etc
When I was a kid they used to put prizes in cereal boxes, and it was super fun to get to dig to the bottom of the box and find it! And they weren’t generally some 2 cents plastic monkey…they were good! Some cereals you would send in box tops and redeem them for even bigger and better prizes! My brother and I would even choke down cereals we didn’t like all because we wanted that cool toy only that cereal came with.
Now days they can’t put anything in the cereals for fear of being sued because someone ate that plastic monkey. Back then I guess we had more common sense. Toy – you play with, Cereal – you eat.
Back then they were almost made of 100% sugar and had real flavors, unlike now when nothing is sweet, sugar is worse than smoking, and they may be very colorful but that Red berry tastes the same as the Blue one or the Green one and NONE have ANY flavor at all!
Cereal is the universal food, much like peanut butter or KD is. You can enjoy a bowl of cereal for breakfast…you can have it for lunch, I’ve had it for supper and even chow down occasionally late at night when I need a snack.
I would venture to say none of the cereals on the shelves today taste anywhere near as good as a few decades ago. Sure they may still be Fruit Loops or Captain Crunch, but they are not the same, and I don’t think nearly as good.
Look if I wanted to eat health food, I’ll have salad, tofu, and juice some beets and brussels sprouts. When I have cereal I want it to be fun food, I want to taste Cherry or Strawberry when I chomp down on a red Fruit Loop.
I want to taste sugar when I have a bowl of Sugar Crisp and I want my milk to turn to Vico when Count Chocula fills by bowl.
Yes there really were some “good old days”.
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