John Harvey Kellogg, another religious vegetarian (specifically, a Seventh Day Adventist) and sanitarium owner, similarly introduced his own version of “granula,” which he named “granola” when Jackson threatened to sue.
As the competition in the cereal industry was heating up, Pillsbury decided to enter the fray with their own cereal, Vitos. Vitos was created in 1897. Like the other early cereals of the time, Vitos were made from wheat.
In 1910s, The Quaker Oats Company, which had acquired a method of forcing rice grains to explode under pressure, began marketing Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat as a breakthrough in food science.
Ralston Purina launched Shredded Ralston in 1936, which is considered an early version of Wheat Chex (via Mr Breakfast). They began using the Chex name in 1950 for Rice Chex, and shortly afterward the company changed Shredded Ralston's name to Wheat Chex.
Starting with World War II, big breakfast cereal companies increasingly started to advertise their products to children. By this time, General Mills also entered the market with Wheaties in the mid-1920s and Kix in the ’30s.
After World War II, cereal consumption increased with the advent of the baby boom, and sugar became a selling point. Kellogg’s invented Frosted Flakes and its pitchman, Tony the Tiger, and a new era of television advertising began. Frosted Flakes was also one of the oldest cereals to be introduced with a cartoon character mascot. Tony the Tiger helped pave the way for the Trix Rabbit, Lucky the Leprechaun, and others.
History of breakfast cereal in United States
