11 of the weirdest breakfast cereals throughout history
March 7 is National Cereal Day. It's a time to celebrate the the American invention of our most glorious breakfast food.
As noted by The New York Times, James Caleb Jackson, a man who managed a medical facility in New York, created the first cereal as a digestive aid in 1863. The dried graham flour dough was apparently so hard that it needed to be soaked in milk overnight.
To honor Jackson's invention and the holiday, we've rounded up the strangest cereals to ever exist. All are sadly defunct and hard to find today.
Check out a few favorites below, many of which were endorsed by unlikely mascots, ranging from Mr. T to a hat-wearing banana-man.
Kelloggs' OKs.
This OK-tasting cereal featured muscular characters who wanted to fist-bump on every box.
Flavors and different shapes were added, and the name changed to Fruit Loops in 1962, three years after its release. It then became defunct and still isn't available anywhere online.
Source: Oola
Kellogg's Corn Flakes with Instant Bananas.
Introduced in 1965, this cereal featured freeze-dried bananas.
A talking banana mascot named Pronto proclaimed "Just add milk... presto! Real tasty banana slices" in the TV ads. It was apparently pretty unappetizing (the bananas turned brown in milk), and it was discontinued in 1966.
Source: Mr. Breakfast
Post's Sugar Krinkles.
Staring at Sugar Krinkles' nightmarish box is one way to start off the day, which featured a scary clown as its mascot.
The cereal was introduced in 1969 and discontinued a year later.
Source: Cracked
General Mills' Sir Grapefellow.
A British WWI-era pilot served as this cereal's mascot, who was the nemesis to another General Mills cereal character named Baron von Redberry.
In the cereals' commercials, Redberry would proclaim, "Baron Von Redberry is der berry goodest!" and Grapefellow would counter, "Sir Grapefellow is the grapest!"
Sir Grapefellow was a short-lived cereal introduced in 1972, and discontinued a year later. It's still impossible to find.
Source: Wikipedia
The Ralston-Purina Company's Freakies.
Released in 1972, Freakies cereal featured seven woodland (and frankly, frightening) creatures who were all different colors.
Quaker Oats' Gremlins.
This corn cereal, introduced in 1984, was based on the film "Gremlins." Every box featured a sticker in the shape of the cute monsters.
It was discontinued after the movie left theaters.
Source: Gremlins' Wiki
Quaker Oats' Mr. T.
Quaker Oats released Mr. T cereal in 1984, and a year later, it appeared in "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure." It was discontinued in 1985 and isn't available anywhere online.
Source: Mental Floss
The Ralston-Purina Company's Dinersaurs.
It sadly became extinct a year later after a trademark dispute with a restaurant by the same name.
Source: Mr. Breakfast
The Ralston-Purina Company's Urkel-O's.
This cereal was named after annoying-yet-beloved "Family Matters character," Steve Urkel.
It was introduced in 1991 and tasted like strawberry and banana.
An unopened box of Urkel-O's was sold on Ebay in 2014 for $100, and as far as we can tell, you can't find it online.
Source: Buzzfeed and Mental Floss
Ralston's WWF Superstars.
Wrestling icons like Animal and Hulk Hogan were the mascots of this cereal from the WWF.
It was introduced in 1991, was discontinued in 1993, and apparently tasted like corn puffs.
Source: Web Urbanist
General Mills' Green Slime.
General Mills released this limited edition cereal in 2003 when it teamed up with Nickelodeon to present that year's Kid's Choice Awards.
It had green corn puffs and Nickelodeon blimp marshmallows. "Kids will want to turn every breakfast into a slimefest!" said the press release in 2003.
Source: Business Wire
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