When Sprinkling Sugar on Cereal Was Normal

My friend Mike and I are the same age. We were talking on the telephone last night when the subject came around to sugar.

As children of the 70’s we both had vivid memories of eating cereal for breakfast every morning. We both sprinkled table sugar on our Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes, Life, and Cheerios. That was before Cheerios had several flavors in their brand stable. Honey Nut Cheerios (1979) didn’t exist yet and Cinnamon Life (1978) had yet to be introduced. Once they were we switched to those sweeter versions.

My family had a bowl of sugar on the table next to the salt and pepper. It was normal, lots of families had a sugar bowl. Before school my brother and I would fill a cereal bowl with cereal, pour in the milk, and sprinkle sugar on top. Then we’d sit and read the fun cartoons that were on the cereal box. Maybe we’d even get a reward (prize) as a result of eating a particular brand. All of this was a positive reinforcement for consuming massive quantities of refined sugar. 

Mike and I both vividly remembered getting to the bottom of the bowl. After all of the cereal was gone there was the super sweet milk. We’d hold the bowl up to our mouths and drink the mixture. I can see in my memory the layer of wet, white granules. And we’d eat that daily.

Sometimes the milk would be slightly tinted (depending on the cereal) due to artificial food coloring. However, my family tended to buy what was perceived to be more healthy cereals and so we stuck with Rice Crispies, Life, and Cheerios. We could and would eat cereal at any time of the day. I don’t recall adding sugar to Fruit Loops or Frosted Flakes but it’s entirely possible that we did.

No wonder I couldn’t make it through a school day without drifting off and getting bored. No wonder I was eating at least one fresh baked .60 cent giant chocolate chip cookie a day from the cafeteria in high school. No wonder I am a sugar addict.

I don’t blame my parents, the teachers or the school board. Their generation was subject to advertising that promised sugar was a good-for-us miracle food. Today we know better. Don’t we?

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