Many people let this day slide on by without recognizing an anniversary date of epic proportions.
For it was on this day, October 6, 1893, when Nabisco Foods invented Cream of Wheat.
I have some fond, fond memories of Cream of Wheat. It is magic in a box, if you ask me.
When we were growing up, we were a “fried egg” kind of family for breakfast. Nearly every day of my youthful life, I ate fried eggs, fried bologna, and white toast. But every so often, mostly on Saturdays, my mom would switch it up, and we were allowed to have a little taste of sugary goodness. This came in the way of things like pancakes, waffles, or French Toast. But every so often, we’d have some kind of instant something, like oatmeal. Or. Or. Cream of Wheat.
Oh, how I loved those Cream of Wheat mornings. Just add hot water, and viola’! A little bit of steamy magic in the bowl before me, just waiting for a dollop of butter and a healthy spoonful of sugar. It was like paradise, I tell you. Sometimes, I was allowed to have two packets of the stuff.
So. Just what is in the envelope?
Cream of Wheat is a brand of farina (milled wheat), a type of breakfast porridge mix made from wheat middlings. A middling sounds like something from one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, but it is not. A wheat middling is the product of the wheat milling process that is not flour. Much to my surprise, they are a useful fodder for livestock and pets.
At any rate, those middlings look similar to grits, but are smoother in texture since it is made with ground wheat kernels instead of ground corn.
And as I mentioned, it was first manufactured in the United States in 1893 by wheat millers in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and debuted at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.
So here is the thing. A lot of great inventions have come about in times of struggle.
Take a moment to imagine life in America, in the late 1800s. Things were a little bit sketchy in the U.S. after the Panic of 1893.
To quickly review, the Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It had a deep and damaging effect on every sector of the economy. It also produced many political upheavals.
So back to cereal. After the Panic of 1893, the Diamond Milling Company in Grand Forks was faced with an altered demand for flour. So, their Scottish-born chief miller, a guy named Tom Amidon, proposed that the company package a breakfast porridge. Tom said that his wife would make this porridge from the portion of the wheat not used in making flour. Those middlings.
At the start of things, Diamond Mills owners — Emery Mapes, George Bull, and George Clifford — weren’t having any of it. But Tom must have kept pushing the issue, and eventually, the owners agreed to test the product.
They sent 10 cases of this porridge stuff, made by the wife, in boxes that were handmade by Amidon. Yep. They sent this porridge to their brokers in New York along with a regular shipment of flour. Another employee suggested the name “Cream of Wheat” which was hand-lettered on the boxes along with a stock illustration of a black chef holding a saucepan. The illustration was an afterthought. It was just something their printer had on hand, so Emery Mapes stuck it on the box.
Anyway, just hours after the brokers, Lamont, Corliss & Co., distributed the product to grocers, they wired Diamond, ordering another 50 cases. And then, the next morning, the brokers sent a second telegram saying, “FORGET THE FLOUR. SEND US A CAR OF CREAM OF WHEAT.”
From there, things grew like wildfire. Diamond directed its factory to begin manufacturing only Cream of Wheat. As demand increased, the company moved to a new factory in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1897. They even changed its name to The Cream of Wheat Company. Six years later, the company outgrew its first Minneapolis plant and moved to a new location in the city. And on and on. Apparently, a lot of people felt the same way as I do about Cream of Wheat.
Back to the box. There is a bit of controversy about that. I mentioned that those original boxes of Cream of Wheat were handmade and lettered. They were also emblazoned with the image of an African-American chef. The character was named Rastus and was seen on all boxes and advertisements.
Jump to the now, or so. Around 2020, there had been public pressure about racist images in packaging. Branding that included the likes of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s and others. And then there was the black chef Rastus . Because of the pressure, B&G Foods decided to make changes to the Cream of Wheat box. On September 25, 2020, they made the announcement. I’m white, so my perception is skewed. But I always looked forward to seeing Chef Ramus on cold mornings, holding up that bowl of Cream of Wheat, with his handsome, smiling face. I used to wonder what he was like in real life, when I stared at that box while spooning down my wheat middlings. With loads of butter and sugar. These days, I eat loads of grits. That milled corn. But who knows. I think I feel some Cream of Wheat on the horizon, minus Chef Rastus.
And history shows us, once again, how things emerge, how they change, and how they also stay the same.
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Cereal is an acceptable meal at any time of the day.
— Unknown
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Philosophy is talk on a cereal box.
— Edie Brickell
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Be a fruit loop in a world full of Cheerios.
— Unknown
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Cooked Midlings. This is not Middle Earth.
