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Today's column comes to you from from Battle Creek, Mich.
Long before my son took up residence here, I felt as if I knew the place because of Saturday morning cartoons, which all seemed to be sidebars to cute, catchy commercials for the latest toys and sugary cereals. Remember the jingles?
"The best to you each morning,
From K-E-double L
O-double good Kellogg's
Best to youuuuu!
(spoken) Kellogg's of Battle Creek."
On our first visit to Battle Creek, more than two decades ago, my mother and I were enchanted by the wholesome scent of freshly baked cornflakes that permeated the downtown area. We visited Cereal City, a cross between a miniature amusement park and museum, where we learned how John Harvey Kellogg developed the Battle Creek Sanitarium (also documented in the 1994 movie "The Road to Wellville") and, with his brother William Keith Kellogg, the cereal giant that bears the family name.
J.H. Kellogg was a physician ahead of his time, one of the first to realize and promote the concept of "you are what you eat." He incorporated new dietary regimens into the sanitarium routines, including a breakfast food he created from baked wheat kernels. He named it Granose.
While J.H. felt the breakfast flakes were the perfect concoction for his patients, his brother, a savvy businessman, saw differently. W.K. continued to experiment, using corn, which was cheaper, and adding sugar and malt for a sweeter taste. The brothers fought fiercely over this, and in 1906, W.K. formed the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company to market his version.
In the meantime, a sanitarium patient named C.W. Post also saw the potential for profit in healthy breakfast foods. Postum, a caffeine-free coffee substitute, was his first invention; Grape-Nuts was next, followed by Elijah's Manna, which was later renamed Post Toasties.
Both C.W. Post and W.K. Kellogg were innovators in marketing and advertising. Post is credited with having convinced Americans that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. W.K. expanded his product line beyond cornflakes, renaming the company to the simpler Kellogg Cereals in 1922. He started putting prizes in cereal boxes and, during the Great Depression, greatly increased his advertising budget while other companies cut back.
At its peak in the early 1900s, Battle Creek was home to over 100 cereal companies, earning itself the distinction of "the cereal capital of the world." Today, only the original two, Kellogg's and Post, maintain a presence, with virtually all of the manufacturing having been outsourced to other locations around the globe. But Battle Creek still proudly bears the nickname Cereal City; in fact, the annual National Cereal Festival kicks off next week with a parade through town. The Cereal Fest will include entertainment by local bands and the Cereal King of Magic, photo opportunities with Tony the Tiger and Sugar Bear, and, of course, free cereal for all.
Though the bulk of Kellogg business is conducted elsewhere, the family name is forever tied to Battle Creek. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has provided funding for child welfare and community causes for nearly a century. The Kellogg Arena houses most of the city's major events, including the Cereal Festival. And when Jimmy relocated to Michigan, he attended Kellogg Community College, where, he informed me, he could get a tuition discount if mom and I saved up enough cereal box tops. He was kidding, of course.
Besides my jokester son, there's another Hawaii connection to Cereal City. Back in the 1920s, the Battle Creek Sanitarium board voted to expand the facilities considerably, despite J.H. Kellogg's objections. The fancy new building was completed just before the stock market crash and the demise of the sanitarium. The building eventually became an Army hospital. Three World War II soldiers who were treated there later became U.S. senators, who advocated to turn the hospital into a federal building. That building is now the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center.
* Kathy Collins is a radio personality (The Buzz 107.5 FM and KEWE 97.9 FM/1240 AM), storyteller, actress, emcee and freelance writer whose "Sharing Mana'o" column appears every other Wednesday. Her email address is kcmaui913@gmail.com.