National Cereal Day is on Sunday, March 7, 2027, and it falls on March 7 every year. It celebrates the bowl of flakes, puffs or O’s that millions of people pour every morning. It’s a good excuse to try a new box or revisit a childhood favorite.
When Is National Cereal Day?
It’s always March 7. It’s an unofficial food day, not a federal holiday.
Who Started National Cereal Day?
No founder or start year has been documented.
Background: the first breakfast cereal
It was Granula, created in 1863 by James Caleb Jackson, a doctor and health reformer in upstate New York. Smithsonian Magazine notes it was so hard it had to soak in milk overnight before you could eat it.
How cereal flakes were invented
By accident, in 1894. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother Will Keith Kellogg were making cereal for patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan. They left a batch of boiled wheat standing overnight.
When they rolled it the next day, it broke into flakes, which they toasted. Two years later, W.K. Kellogg made the first corn flakes. In 1906, he formed the company that became the Kellogg Company in 1922.
Why Celebrate Cereal?
Cereal changed the American breakfast from a cooked meal to a quick bowl. It started as plain health food for sanitarium patients and became a supermarket aisle of its own.
The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers now lists the first flaked cereal as a historic landmark.
How to Celebrate National Cereal Day
- Build a cereal bar: set out three or four cereals, sliced bananas, berries and different milks.
- Bake cereal treats: swap rice cereal for cornflakes or Cheerios in your favorite marshmallow bar recipe.
- Make cereal milk: soak toasted cornflakes in milk for 20 minutes, strain and use it in a latte.
- Coat some chicken: crush cornflakes for a crunchy baked chicken coating.
- Do a nostalgia taste test: buy a cereal you haven’t had since childhood and see if it holds up today.
- Make homemade granola: toss oats with honey, oil, nuts and cinnamon, then bake at 325°F until golden.
- Read the label: compare grams of added sugar across your favorite boxes.
- Try overnight oats: a nod to Granula, but soft and ready by morning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is granola the same as Granula?
They’re related. John Harvey Kellogg made his own version, and when Jackson sued, Kellogg renamed it “Granola,” the word we still use.
How did Cheerios get their name?
They launched in 1941 as CheeriOats. After Quaker Oats objected to the name, General Mills renamed them Cheerios in 1945, Mental Floss reports.
When did Honey Nut Cheerios come out?
In 1979, according to Mental Floss.