Wheaties & cream
March 29, 2008
A month or so ago I was cruising the long cereal aisle at the supermarket, trying to make an important economic decision, when I spied the familiar Wheaties box. Man, did that bring back memories of gorging on a big bowl of sugared Wheaties, lathered with cream from the top of the milk bottle. My mouth watered.
Yesterday I indulged once again. Same Wheaties, but with Half & Half. Ambrosia! Skim milk just doesn’t cut it. I got to wondering how long Wheaties has been around, so I asked Mr. Wikipedia, and this is what I found.
It all started in 1922, in Minnesota, when a clinician accidentally spilled a wheat bran mixture onto a hot stove. By 1925 they had figured out how to box it for the market, and the name Wheaties won over Nutties and Gold Medal Wheat Flakes. It became the Breakfast of Champions in 1933.
Some Wheaties trivia:
- 1926 - First ever singing commercial. “Have you tried Wheaties” (to the tune of Jazz Baby).
- 1934 - First athlete on a Wheaties box: Lou Gehrig.
- 1988 - Michael Jordan holds the record for most times on a Wheaties box, 18 times, followed by Tiger Woods in 1998 at 14 times.
It looks like my heyday roughly coincides with Wheaties’ heyday, but Wheaties is still forging ahead while I’m slowing down. I think Wheaties will win the race.
Dave, which he just boosted his cholesterol count a tad.
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