This week, we revisit the breakfast cereals of our youth and ask, once and for all, if they’re really as good as we thought they were. What happened to Cracklin’ Oat Bran? Why is Lucky the Leprechaun making that face? What cereal was stolen by a rabbit, was the Hamburglar involved, and why can’t we keep this stuff straight? Join us as we share five bowls of sugar and call it lunch.
July 1, 2010
You’re thinking of Trix, with the cereal-deprived rabbit.
OM NOM Cracklin’ Oat Bran is the absolute best.
“Box of rox” would sell, I’m sure.
It was Trix! The rabbit was stealing Trix from the kids… but they would say “Silly Rabbit Trix are for Kids”
That rabbit was me.
i used to LOVE cracklin’ oat bran!! what did happen to that?? also, remember ‘nut’n honey’? the one with the commercials in which people would cheekily reply ‘nut’n, honey!’ when asked simple questions like ‘what’s that you’re eating?’
oh, the cereal hilarity.
“Nut ‘n Honey commercial”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcMo2v_v6ew
Wow, what was wrong with these people?
‘…..NUT’N, honey!!’
ha ha haaa. oops.
I miss Cinnamon Toast Crunch. (sniff sniff) My bf calls Cracklin Oat Bran “Crack and Oat Bran”–he says it tastes too much like cookies. Not sure why that’s a bad thing.
You’re thinking of Cookie Crisp! With the Cookie Crook!
That’s it! I was fusing the rabbit and the Cookie Crook together in some kind of monstrous hybrid! Thanks.
P.S.: I’m going to assume Nutella Nutterson is your real name, and don’t you dare tell me different.
So funny! I saw the title of your post and immediately thought of Cracklin’ Oat Bran. That stuff was so good and SO sweet. I grew up in a Grape Nuts household, so no cartoon characters for me.
I like Grape Nuts! Really.
great episode…
when i was a little kid (mid-70s) i didn’t recall grams of sugar being shown on the boxes; my mom wouldn’t buy anything where sugar was among the first 3 ingredients. since then the manufacturers have caught on and broken the sugar down into dextrose, “evaporated cane juice,” etc.
my favorite contraband cereal as a kid was cocoa krispies (i trumpet happ-i-ly) but my adult cereal eating disappointment is wheaties: i think they changed it to make it sweeter (maltier?), and i liked it better as i remember it.
cinnamon toast crunch is fantastic – even most store brand versions are really good too.
Is it weird that I like to listen to this podcast while doing the Tracy Anderson Method workout on DVD? Ok, good. Phew!
Will the cereal taste different when paired with soy milk? How about sprinkled with blueberries, or dried cranberries? Another round of taste test!
Thank you for your podcasts. Living longterm in Japan, I find myself occasionally needing to hear ‘real’ English conversation to stay sane. A friend brought a Sansa audio device to my wedding in April with a few of your podcasts pre-loaded. I listen on the train between Ise and Tsu everyday.
I almost stopped listening because of Matthew’s horrible pronunciation of ‘kabocha’ during the squash episode, but he redeemed himself nicely with his pronunciation of ‘onigiri’. (It wasn’t just because he pretended to know.)
Anyhow, tonight on my way home, I’ll hear about cereal… I imagine there won’t be a cooking sequence, so I’m hoping for a rant, or at least an attempt to eat something poisonous.
Erik Hammond
In my defense, “kabocha” is both an English and Japanese word, with different pronunciations, and onigiri is not–yet. We’ll work on that.
while pregnant with my son I discovered the perfect way to eat Cinnamon toast cruch… with Chocolate milk. Try it. THink of Mexican Hot chocolate. Chocolate and cinnamon works there why not at breakfast?
Oh, you two were too hard on Lucky Charms. When the “marshmallows” get wet in the milk they are less chalky. It is also possible that I have very bad taste in sugar cereals. I enjoy the lowly Shredded Wheat and Grape-Nuts, so I might not be qualified to share opinions here.
Have they stopped making Cracklin Oat Bran in the US? They’ve just phased it out in the UK where it was called Crunchy Oat Bran – I had thought I could still get it on my annual NY trip in the fall – oh no! I used to love it with plain fromage frais and chopped agen prunes…
We had no trouble finding it in Seattle, Felicity, and it has a page on the Kellogg’s site.
I was pleased to find just now, however, that there’s a “thread about the dangers of Cracklin’ Oat Bran”:http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=9049 on Snopes.
My brother and I grew up in a non-junk-food household. But when we went on vacation, we were each allowed to pick one box of sugar cereal. My brother picked Apple Jacks and I picked Peanut Butter Captain Crunch. The boxes were GONE within 24 hours. This is still a very strong childhood memory that makes me smile….
My husband and I loved this episode. Based on your preferences in this and the Junk Food episode, we were wondering if you prefer more sweet/sour/fruity/gummy candies or those of the chocolate/caramel/rich variety. We have a theory we’re working on.
Definitely rich and chocolaty for me.
I laughed so hard, during this episode. My family applied these same rules to cereal and now my kids live within a similar regime. Cinnamon Life cereal and Cracklin Oat Bran were my favs. My kids beg me for Cinnamon Toast Crunch – I just may need to give in.
Where are the pictures of you eating cereal? And when Molly almost spilled the milk? How ironic!
We had this conversation:
Molly: “Wait, we don’t have any pictures of us eating cereal? Should we cut that out of the show?”
Matthew: “Nah, no one will demand pictures of us eating cereal.”
So, THANKS A LOT, Jillian.