Banana Cream Pie N’Oatmeal (and a Brief History of Breakfast)

• The concept of breakfast as “the most important meal of the day” can be traced to a 1944 marketing campaign launched by General Foods, the manufacturer of Grape Nuts, to sell more cereal.
• Cereal is a product launched in the 1890’s by John Harvey Kellogg, a deeply religious doctor who believed that cereal would both improve Americans’ health and lower their sex drive (both positive outcomes, in his mind). Cereal’s origins lie in sanitariums run in the mid- to late 1800s. It was not sweet, and critics called it “wheat rocks.”
• Before the  invention of cereal, breakfast was not as standard or routine as it is now and what was considered breakfast food varied widely: eggs, pastries, and pancakes, yes… but also oysters, “boiled chickens”, and steak. 
• By the 1940’s, cereal was coated with sugar, but retained its popularity and perception as a health food thanks to a barrage of advertising. Why is the marketing supporting cereal and other processed breakfast food so fierce?   
  • Studies show that breakfast choices are likely more habitual because of the strength of morning routines and brand loyalty is strong in the breakfast foods category, so once a consumer is won, they’re likely to purchase long-term.
  • While some Americans cook breakfast (more on this below), “people’s desire for a fast, convenient meal means that many breakfast foods are packaged products that rely on advertising”.
  • There is room for profits to grow since breakfast is the most skipped meal in America, which means money on the table for the food industry.

I’m trying not to jump to conclusions, but all this seems to add up to the fact that. . . maybe. . . [bctt tweet=”Cereal has become wildly successful due to two key ingredients: sugar and advertising. ” username=”freshplanetflvr”]

Anyway, the article inspired me to develop a new breakfast alternative. This isn’t the first n’oatmeal recipe on my site (hello, Blueberry Baked N’Oatmeal, Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll N’Oatmeal and OG N’Oatmeal Breakfast Bowl) but this is by far the closest to actual oatmeal in color and texture. Not so much in taste, although, if you blended banana and coconut cream into your oatmeal you’d have a very close approximation. Because oatmeal itself doesn’t taste like much, would you agree? If you’re after a little added sweetness and crunch, add some toasted coconut flakes and drizzle local honey on top (I’m loving Bay Area Bee Company honey).