Cereal Number

Some of you will remember this ad from 1982 - it had such a catchy tune [I have a bizarre memory of singing it on a sunny afternoon with my dear friend Val in Gillingham, when Liz was a tiny baby] 

Back in those days I was eating a lot of bran flakes, pregnancy had played havoc with my digestive system, and I did not like 'All Bran' which I thought tasted like dry twigs. And I used the flakes to make a one-cup-loaf . These days I usually go for porridge in the winter, and a granola or crunchy granola type cereal in the summer. But I was in Sainsburys recently and spotted this - it was on a very good offer, almost 50% off. So I bought a box

This appeared to tick the boxes - high fibre, and  crunchiness. There was a lot of nutritional information, in eight different languages on the back of the box. Bottom line - 13% fibre, 21% sugar [All Bran original is 27% fibre, 18%sugar and Bran Flakes are 17% fibre, 14% sugar] So this is half the fibre of All Bran,and half as much sugar as Bran Flakes.

There was so much information and I found it hard to decipher the small print. However, Kelloggs are helpfully putting these new Navilens GO codes on their packets. These are the next thing to QR codes, and particularly useful for those with visual impairment - check out the RNIB website. It was proving to be a very educational breakfast. And the taste?

Well, it wasn't quite as golden as the picture on the packet. And the various shaped globes of aerated cereal had an interesting flavour. 

Bob declared that "It seems like Kelloggs put their cereal into a 3D printer to make a 'crunchy' product and this came out. It tastes quite 'worthy' - I do feel I am eating  the MDF of breakfast products"

I do not think I can give a better description - he summed it up beautifully. Worthy is the term we generally use for 'food that is probably healthy, and maybe doing us good, but we are not deriving any great pleasure from the experience of eating it' [see also dense wholemeal bread, well-boiled cabbage, unseasoned parsnip soup...]

Maybe others will like this product. But we didn't. I will eat it, because I am not going to waste food. But at regular price it comes in at 38p per serving [plus milk] so I won't be buying another box!

However I approve of the fancy new code and hope people find it helpful.

I do wish Kelloggs would bring back that cheery little advert though...