Cereal, is it really that Gr-r-reat!?
Kudos for those that recognize the nod to the enduring Tony the Tiger
Cereal is up there with American staples like apple pie and baseball. Cereal pioneers, which include the Kellogg brothers and C.W. Post, created an industry that still dominates the American breakfast table over 150 years after its creation.
Growing up, “candy cereal,” as it was called in my household, was a special and highly sought after treat. Candy cereal referred to the more obviously sugared cereals which included Frosted Flakes, Reese’s Cocoa Puffs, Froot Loops and Cap’n Crunch.
On the day to day, I ate cereal for breakfast nearly every day in elementary and middle school since both my parent’s worked, I loved how it tasted, and it was easy enough to prepare by myself. It also doesn’t requires the dirtying of cookware. The cereals in regular rotation included brands like Honey Bunches of Oats and Cracklin Oat Bran.
In many cases, these cereals have a veneer of healthfulness, but their ingredients and nutrition panels do little to back up that assumption. In reality, they are just as sugared as the competitors. Cracklin Oat Bran clocks in at 16g of sugar per serving, but hey at least there was a little fiber!
“Cereal is typically high in carbs, but low in protein and fiber on its own,” said Katherine Shary, a registered dietitian.
I think my mom knew this intuitively because she’d say, “you know this isn’t very good for you,” while still allowing us to put our cereals into the cart. It’s my best guess that at a certain point, you choose your battles and since we were eating more balanced meals for lunch and dinner, this one, with Battle Creek, Michigan, was not worth having.
During our yearly summer vacation with our cousins, my brothers and I would get a pass on the normally maligned candy cereals and boy did we ever jump at the opportunity! Needless to say, the bright colors, sickly sweet flavor and engaging marketing kept us coming back for more.
More recently, cereal companies have received negative attention thanks to the Make America Health Again movement led by Robert Kennedy Jr., the controversial figure who serves as the current Secretary of Health and Human Services.
With regards to food policy, RFK has shown a laser focused interest in food colorings. “They get brighter colors in Froot Loops, but it’s literally poisoning our kids,” he said in an interview.
While I don’t doubt that there are better breakfast alternatives than cereal, I find the fixation with food colorings (don’t even get me started on his campaign against fluoride) to be…bizarre.
The dyes are really just one facet of a much broader picture. It almost seems like a red herring intended to distract us from the more important issues within our food system. I worry that RFK will push for the ban of food dyes, claim an easy victory and use this to prove he’s enacted real change. But, if we ignore the broader issues, such as access to fresh and affordable produce, the ubiquity of UPFs and the power of big food to sway policy, within a $48 billion industry like cereal, this will all have been in vain.
Cooking affordable meals that are decidedly not ultra processed is doable and I want to show you how, dammit! Each newsletter, I’ll share one recipe to get your creative cooking juices ~flowing~.
This recipe, adapted from a NYT Cooking recipe, is made for firm and crunchy spring produce. I have yet to pair these ricotta dumplings with a vegetable and not have the dish be seriously amplified though, so feel free to experiment year round.
Spring Greens + Ricotta Dumplings
Ingredients:
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup flour
1 egg
Whatever spring vegetables you have! I used frozen peas, arugula and asparagus. A caramelized onion would also be great here.
Olive oil for cooking and dressing
Salt & pepper
Directions:
Boil a medium pot of lightly salted water
In a medium bowl, combine ricotta and the egg, plus salt and pepper to your preference. Next, gently mix in the flour (but don’t mix too much). Form the mixture into small balls.
In a saucepan, combine your vegetables with olive oil on low heat. I cooked the asparagus and peas this way, but left out the arugula.
Once the water is boiling, drop the dumplings into the water and cook for about 4 minutes (they will rise to the top).
When the dumplings are done, place them in the saucepan with the vegetables for a minute, coating with the olive oil and then transfer to a bowl filled with you preferred salad greens. Season with salt, pepper and other spices.
I encourage you to flip around the label on your favorite packaged foods. Doing this is one step towards in decreasing the amount of ultra processed foods you’re regularly consuming. Here’s one switch I’m making:
Ok, so maybe cereal isn’t the healthiest category of food there ever was, but there’s no denying the convenience it offers. It’s also important to note that there’s a substantial range in healthfulness across the category. Look for several grams of fiber and minimal added sugar if you do want to start your day with a bowl of cereal. One suggestion, pair your cereal with a simple ingredient yogurt or cottage cheese for additional protein (which helps increase satiety aka the feeling of fullness).
Learn more about the author here. Thanks for letting me riff about the food topics that keep me up at night!
Best subject line ive seen in a while
Great stuff!