cereal

Uh Oh, Cheerios

This is a great LA Times piece (journalism! enjoy it while you can) on whether eating high-fiber cereal alone is enough to lower your cholesterol in a meaningful way.

Of course, the answer is: probably not. You’d need to eat several times the suggested serving for weeks in order to get enough fiber—at least 3 grams daily—to make a difference. Of course if you eat the cereal and also pick up a few more grams of fiber eating other things through the day, then you’re ok, but the commercials do tend to suggest that all you need to do is eat a bowl every day and you’re golden.

Americans do tend to want to solve problems via purchases and so many things get couched in those terms. Buy organic! Buy this lightbulb and not that one! Buy this fancy composter! Buy a fancy henhouse! It’s worth looking past the claims and sometimes not buying anything at all. Christ I’m deep and pompous, but you know what I mean. Props to the LA Times for digging in on the research and publishing this, because you know General Mills is a big advertiser. (By the way did you know that is the reason most newspapers have food sections? Because stores and restaurants advertise in them and that pays for the rest of the paper. Thus ends my lesson in obviousness for now.)

—Snacktime

Bowling for (Foodie) Dollars

Great news for foodies who just can’t face adulthood—like Congress!—The Cereal Bowl has opened in our nation’s capital. Their press release tells me that The Cereal Bowl “takes cereal to a whole new level,” and that the company will soon have over 30 locations, including one in Qatar.

The Cereal Bowl is franchising hot on the heels of  Cereality, who were inspired “to celebrate the very personal nature of enjoying a good bowl of cereal, anywhere and at any time.”

You guys, have you ever really thought about how hard it is to get a bowl of cereal when you want it? If it weren’t for places like the Cereal Bowl and Cereality, where would you even go? I have been trying to source some locally—I’m thinking one of those big stores with the aisles of food and push carts might have some, but I am not sure. I’m told that children often know good places to get cereal, so if there isn’t a cereal franchise in your town, definitely try asking one of them.

—Snacktime