Eat Myself a Bowl of Froot Loops

I’m fixing to eat myself a bowl of Froot Loops.

It’s not “Fruit,” it’s “Froot.” I got hooked on them in 1963 when they were introduced via a cartoon commercial featuring Toucan Sam, a goofy looking parrot with a huge multi-colored beak and wearing a Carmen Miranda fruit hat.

Toucan Sam’s rhyme, “Follow my nose! It always knows! The flavor of fruit! Wherever it grows!” was delivered by Mel Blanc, who was also the voice behind Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn and Barney Rubble.

When I first discovered Froot Loops they consisted of crunchy little circles colored red, orange and yellow. Purple was added sometime later.

Of course I started out eating the granddaddy of all cereals, Corn Flakes, which were invented accidentally in 1894 when Doctor John Kellogg was attempting to improve the diet of hospital patients as he searched for a digestible bread substitute using the process of boiling wheat.

After accidentally leaving a pot of boiled wheat to stand he rolled it up and let it dry, and each grain of wheat emerged as a large thin flake, which became known as Corn Flakes. Dr. John and his Brother Keith founded the corporation in 1906.

Corn Flakes were the king of cereal, and for some time was the tasty and crunchy dry cereal everybody had for breakfast.

Then in 1929, the brothers tried the same thing with rice and Rice Krispies were introduced.

In 1941, some other folks got involved when a company called General Mills introduced a ready-to-eat cereal with crisp doughnut-like rings called Cheerioats, which evolved into Cherrios.

But I remember when Corn Flakes had become blase` and the entrepreneurs of grains began to concoct new types of breakfast crunches.

That’s when the cereal wars began on TV with the crunch competitors using cartoon characters to promote their products. While I was watching Huckleberry Hound, Tony the Tiger would be ranting about Frosted Flakes (who still roars today), and Trix Rabbit and Sugar Bear would both tout their cereal.

But back to the Froot Loops—I still had a taste for them in my mouth, and I could visualize the rainbow of colors of them floating in a bowl of milk. But as I wandered up and down the cereal isle at the grocery store there were no Froot Loops to be seen.

I was tempted by the Coco Puffs, the Apple Jacks, the Fruity Pebbles and the dozens of other new brands on the market, but I finally gave up and went home.

I’m fixing to just have myself a bowl of Corn Flakes.