Invention Of Breakfast Cereal

The concept of breakfast cereal began with Shredded Wheat, invented as an aid to digesting by Henry D. Perky in 1893. His idea was soon expanded upon when John Harvey Kellogg invented flaked breakfast cereal in 1895.

Because he suffered badly from dyspepsia, lawyer Henry D. Perky (USA) did not always live up to his name, often being far from perky. One morning at breakfast in a hotel in Nebraska, he met a fellow dyspeptic who recommended eating whole boiled wheat with milk for breakfast, something that not only improved Perky's digestion, but inspired him to invent the first ready-to-eat breakfast cereal, Shredded Wheat, in 1893. His invention proved so popular when sold locally that in 1895 Perky founded the Natural Food Co. and began manufacturing Shredded Wheat commercially.

That same year, John Harvey Kellogg (USA, known as 'J.H.') filed a patent for: 'Flaked cereals and process of preparing the same.' Kellogg, a qualified doctor, ran the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, where he promoted what he called 'biologic living', as regime that included treatments such as calisthenics, cold baths, enemas and electroshock therapy. Kellogg was also interested in diet, and often experimented with boiling cereal grains as an aid to digestion. One night in 1894, J.H.'s brother Will Keith (USA, known as 'W.K.') left some wheat grain overnight between boiling the grain and rolling it out into dough. The grains became moist, and, when he rolled then the next morning, they formed flakes instead of the usual flat sheets of dough.

Fortunately for the future morning routines of millions, instead of throwing away the flakes, W.K. baked them and served them for breakfast. The patients enjoyed them, but although it was W.K. who accidentally invented flaked cereal it was J.H. who filed a patent the following year, beginning: 'Be it known that I, John Harvey Kellogg... have invented a certain new and useful Alimentary Product and Process of Making the Same.' Tension between the two brothers eventually came to a head when W.K. added malt flavoring to a cereal without J.H.'s approval, resulting in W.K. buying out his brother and founding the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, eventually known simply as Kellogg's.

Source - The Book Of Inventions by Ian Harrison