Modern Marvels · SEASON 12

Cereal: History in a Bowl

Episode 52 · 2005-09-14

★ N/A
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Season 12Episode 52★ N/A/10
  • Documentary

Episode overview

Move over pancakes, step aside bacon! Cereal is arguably the true breakfast king, a $9-billion industry with an indisputable place in pop-culture history. Full of surprise, nostalgia, and fascinating facts, our special celebrates the colorful–and crunchy–saga of a distinctly American breakfast. We see how a Presbyterian minister-turned-health-food-fanatic–Sylvester Graham, of “Graham cracker” fame–turned his countrymen from fried pork breakfasts to grain- and bran-heavy diets in 1824. We reveal the rivalries, tricks, and accidents that turned cereal into a breakfast sensation. And we examine the amazing feats of marketing used to promote the product–from creating iconic characters for packaging, to ingenious prizes that drove consumers to the shelves in droves.

44 minutes

Season 12 episodes

1. Poison2005-01-05 2. Car Tech of the Future2005-01-06 3. The Arch2005-01-12 4. More Nature's Engineers2005-01-18 5. World's Biggest Machines 32005-01-26 6. Blackbird Stealth2005-02-04 7. The Butcher2005-02-08 8. George Washington Carver Tech2005-02-15 9. Firefighting!: Extreme Conditions2005-02-15 10. Desert Tech2005-02-23 11. Sub Zero2005-02-23 12. The Great Bridge: 8 Miles of Steel2005-02-23 13. Howard Hughes Tech2005-02-28 14. Edwards Air Force Base2005-03-02 15. Taxidermy2005-03-09 16. SWAT2005-03-09 17. Deadliest Weapons2005-03-16 18. The Doomsday Clock2005-04-07 19. The Basement2005-04-26 20. Paint2005-04-27 21. Mega Movers2005-04-27 22. Punishment2005-04-28 23. Bricks2005-05-11 24. Glue2005-05-18 25. F/A-22 Raptor2005-05-20 26. Civil War Tech2005-05-25 27. Machines of D-Day2005-06-03 28. John Hancock Center2005-06-08 29. The Cape Cod Canal2005-06-15 30. Secret Japanese Aircraft of World War II2005-06-16 31. Future Tech2005-06-22 32. Edison Tech2005-06-28 33. Secrets of Soviet Space Disasters2005-07-01 34. Mountain Roads2005-07-05 35. Route 662005-07-06 36. Cowboy Tech2005-07-20 37. Sewers2005-07-27 38. Challenger Tank2005-07-29 39. World's Biggest Machines 42005-08-02 40. Dredging2005-08-03 41. Lube Job2005-08-10 42. Secret Luftwaffe Aircraft of World War II2005-08-17 43. The World's Fastest2005-08-24 44. The B-2 Stealth Bomber2005-08-26 45. High Risk: Helicopter Lineman2005-08-31 46. Wiring America2005-08-31 47. Nature Tech: Lightning2005-08-31 48. HMS Victory2005-09-02 49. Engineering an Empire: Rome2005-09-13 50. Coffee2005-09-14 51. Sugar2005-09-14 52. Cereal: History in a Bowl2005-09-14 53. F-117 Nighthawk Stealth2005-09-22 54. German Small Arms of World War II2005-09-24 55. The Auto Store2005-10-05 56. Secret Allied Aircraft of World War II2005-10-14 57. Engineering Disasters 172005-11-02 58. Brewing2005-11-16 59. The Lumberyard2005-11-30 60. Da Vinci Tech2005-12-04 61. Custom Cars2005-12-05 62. More Hardware2005-12-06 63. Weird Weapons: The Allies2005-12-17 64. More Snack Food Tech2005-12-20 65. Walt Disney World2005-12-25 66. Nature Tech: Hurricanes2005-12-29 70. Private Collections2004-12-06