The Accidental Discovery Behind Corn Flakes

They were created at the end of the 19th century in an American sanatorium as part of a strict religious diet, which was supposed to free patients from bodily desires and cure them from what the puritan society of that time considered moral decline.

At the end of the 19th century, Seventh-day Adventist and doctor John Harvey Kellogg was running the famous Battle Creek Sanatorium in the American state of Michigan. Kellogg was deeply religious and was convinced that most human illnesses and psychological problems came from an incorrect diet and excessive sexual desire.

He believed that spicy, sweet or meat-based foods stimulated the nervous system and led to sinful thoughts and masturbation, which he considered to be the root of all evil. As a treatment for his wealthy patients, he therefore prescribed a strict ascetic lifestyle, hydrotherapy and an extremely plain, boring vegetarian diet, which was supposed to reliably suppress any bodily desires.

In August 1894, John Kellogg and his younger brother Will Keith Kellogg were experimenting with preparing new healthy foods from wheat. During their work, however, they had to leave the unfinished dough in a hurry, and the cooked wheat grains were left lying on a table in the laboratory for several days.

When they came back, they discovered that the dough had become dry and slightly stale from standing. Because the sanatorium had a limited budget and they did not want to throw the ingredients away, they decided to process the wheat anyway, even though it was already a little spoiled.

They tried putting the grains through rotating metal rollers, which they normally used to press dough into long sheets.

Instead of the expected single sheet of dough, the pressure of the rollers turned the wheat grains into thousands of thin, separate flakes. The brothers thought of drying these flakes and then roasting them in an oven.

The result was a crispy and light food, which the patients at the sanatorium liked because it was easy to digest.

Several years later, Will Keith Kellogg tried using the same process with corn, and this turned out to be an even better version. The younger brother also had a much stronger business sense and realised the huge commercial potential of the new product.

He suggested adding sugar to the corn flakes. This would improve the taste radically and the food could then be sold to ordinary people.

But this decision led to a lifelong conflict between the two brothers. Dr. John Kellogg strictly refused adding sugar, saying that the sweet taste was against the original ascetic and therapeutic purpose of the food, which was supposed to calm human passions.

Will Keith therefore went his own way. In 1906, he founded his own company, the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which later became the food giant Kellogg's.

He began distributing the flakes on a large scale, with added sugar and malt syrup.

And so, what had originally been a very plain morning ritual designed to fight against sin became, thanks to marketing and a better taste, a billion-dollar global business that completely changed the way Western people have breakfast.

Sources

• Smithsonian Magazine – The Secret Ingredient in Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Is Seventh-Day Adventism
  Podrobný historický kontext vzniku kukuřičných lupínků, Battle Creek Sanitarium, Johna Harveyho Kellogga a vlivu adventistického náboženství na jeho názory na stravu. Read the full Smithsonian article

• College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library – The Flakes We Know and Love
  Historie Battle Creek Sanitarium a Kelloggových bratrů, včetně sporu o cukr a následného založení vlastní společnosti Will Keith Kelloggem. Read the full historical article

• Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists – Will Keith Kellogg (1860–1951)
  Podrobnější informace o vývoji vločkovaných cereálií, použití válců, Willově obchodním uvažování a založení Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company v roce 1906. Read the full biography and history

• HISTORY – Cereal: Accidental Invention That Changed American Breakfast
  Příběh náhodného vzniku cereálií a dalšího experimentování Willa Kellogga s kukuřicí, které vedlo ke vzniku známých corn flakes. Read the full HISTORY article

• Michigan Medicine – Breakfast, Business, and Battling Brothers
  Historie Battle Creek Sanitarium, Johna Harveyho a Will Keitha Kelloggů a jejich vlivu na podobu moderních snídaní. Read the full Michigan Medicine article

• Science History Institute – A Recipe for Good Health
  Historický pohled na Kelloggovu filozofii zdraví, jeho vztah k potravinářství a především spor s bratrem kvůli cukru a komerčnímu využití cereálií. Read the full Science History Institute article

• UT Health San Antonio – Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, Inventor of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes
  Další historické informace o vývoji procesu výroby vloček, společnosti Sanitas a následném rozdělení obchodních cest obou bratrů. Read the full historical overview

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