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An anti-sex cult and battling brothers: a brief history of the corn flake

4.9.2024

Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson

The story of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes could have been penned by Shakespeare himself. Starring a dodgy health guru, his oppressed brother, who accidentally makes a discovery, and a bitter dispute in court. In the end, one of them dies penniless, the other filthy rich.

Eat healthy, live actively and treat your body like a temple. «A healthy mind in a healthy body.» What sounds like an advertising slogan for a spiritual retreat in Bali was the motto of the Battle Creek Sanatorium over 150 years ago. Its manager, John Kellogg, had his own take on how to get the health of his rich, stressed-out customers from the surrounding towns back on track. Ideas that seem grotesque by today’s standards.

As a follower of the Protestant Seventh-day Adventist Church, Kellogg preached an ascetic lifestyle. Tobacco, alcohol and coffee were prohibited. As was sex, which was reserved for procreation only. Masturbation was considered a sin to be prevented by wearing chastity belts or undergoing circumcisions without anaesthesia. Colonic irrigation, light therapy and a strict diet without meat and sugar, but with plenty of bland, rock-hard rusks, were intended to get stressed city dwellers back on the right path. And they couldn’t get enough of the Kellogg’s therapies. Industrialist Henry Ford, President Warren Harding and inventor Thomas Edison all frequented the Battle Creek Sanatorium.

The despised little brother

Always in tow with John Kellogg was his little brother Will, who was eight years younger. In his role as a kind of personal assistant, he’d take note of his older brother’s ideas, do the bookkeeping or work on new recipes for even healthier rusks. At times, Will worked up to 120 hours a week for his fanatical brother. So it’s quite possible that one day in 1894, with all the stress he was under, he forgot a batch of dough. The following day, it was all swollen and slightly fermented. John decided to roll out the dough anyway and pop it in the oven. Surprisingly, baking the unappetising lump turned it into crispy flakes, which John served to the sanatorium guests for breakfast.

John (left) and Will Kellogg.
Source: Wikipedia

Their minds were blown. The guests were no longer chipping their teeth on hard rusks, but enjoying crispy flakes instead. The Kellogg brothers sensed a business opportunity. They founded the Sanitas Food Company and Will continued to experiment. He changed the recipe to corn instead of wheat and added sugar to the flakes. Much to the displeasure of his austere brother John, who viewed sugar as poison for the body.

Subsequently, he left the venture, while businessman Will went on to sell more and more Corn Flakes. Twelve years after its foundation, the newly founded Battle Creek Toasted Cornflake Company produced 120,000 packs of the cereal per day. At the same time, an increasing number of imitators were trying to get a slice of the cornflake pie. Will decides to print «Kellogg’s» on the boxes and uses the name to mark their cereal as the original. This has remained unchanged to this day.

An ad for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes from the 1910s.
Source: Wikipedia

Legal battles

This was too much for John the health fanatic. He took his brother to court to ensure the Kellogg name isn’t used for the sugared flakes. A bitter legal dispute ensued that cost him a fortune. Later on, the business with the sanatorium collapsed due to the Great Depression, John lost the court case against his younger brother and died in Battle Creek in 1943 at the age of 91, heavily in debt. His brother Will became a multimillionaire who was happy to share his fortune with others. A college in Oxford, England, is still named after him today. William Kellogg also died in Battle Creek at the age of 91.

The Kellogg’s company is now called Kellanova and is still based in Battle Creek.

Cereals + Granola

CHF4.50 CHF9.–/1kg

Kellogg's Corn Flakes 500g

500 g

Cereals + Granola

CHF16.70 CHF16.70/1kg

Kellogg's Corn Flakes GV 1kg.

1000 g

Nostalgic-Art Merchandising Corn Flakes Retro (4 l)

Storage containers

Quantity discount

CHF13.20 per piece for 4 units

Nostalgic-Art Merchandising Corn Flakes Retro

4 l

Cereals + Granola

CHF4.50 CHF9.–/1kg

Kellogg's Corn Flakes 500g

Cereals + Granola

CHF16.70 CHF16.70/1kg

Kellogg's Corn Flakes GV 1kg.

Quantity discount

Storage containers

CHF13.20 per piece for 4 units

Nostalgic-Art Merchandising Corn Flakes Retro

In the latest episode of our Swiss-German podcast «Uftischt», Judith and I talk about the best breakfast cereals. Spoiler alert: Kellogg’s was represented several times.

Header image: Shutterstock

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Simon Balissat

Teamleader Editorial

Simon.Balissat@digitecgalaxus.ch

When I flew the family nest over 15 years ago, I suddenly had to cook for myself. But it wasn’t long until this necessity became a virtue. Today, rattling those pots and pans is a fundamental part of my life. I’m a true foodie and devour everything from junk food to star-awarded cuisine. Literally. I eat way too fast.

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