Why did milk become the preferred liquid in which to soak cereal? Was it an evil scheme by some milk marketing board or did people come to some sort of concensus on the issue?
Because Jack Daniel’s tastes funny on Captain Crunch?
Says you.
Good question. It’s not written in stone anywhere. My wife and daughter eat their cereal dry. I put milk on, but only because I’ve been brought up that way. Corn Flakes are by no means an obvioous preparation from corn, and it took a bit of work for the Kelloggs to come up with them. It’s even less obvious that they should be immersed in milk.
I suspect that with most such things the answer is that someone tried it, said “Hey, that’s pretty good,” suggested it to others and eventually it caught on. Somewhere along the way I’m sure advertising had something to do with it, too. Beyond that, I haven’t a clue.
I know people who use apple juice because they can’t drink milk. Other people use yogurt.
Milk, in the U.S., tended to be around the house a lot and it’s a liquid, but not too thin so it makes cereals easier to eat. Of course with hot cereals (such as oatmeal), I would just use water unless I needed to cool off the cereal to eat.
I used to eat cheerios in water, but milk simply is better in my opinion…
Milk and cereal combined make a complete protein. Maybe when cereals were first mass-marketed this was a selling point, and no one’s every thought to do any different.
I, personally, prefer my cold cereal dry and my hot cereal unadorned with anything exept some nutrasweet.
I knew a guy from Austria who couldn’t stand milk on cereal, so he used water. It made me shudder, but he liked it.
I have a cousin (or my dad has a cousin, I’m fuzzy on exactly which branches various of my relatives on my dad’s side are located) who eats cereal with apple juice.
For hot cereals I tend to use milk. Makes it thicker, which is how I like it.
For dry cereals, I tend to eat them dry partially because I’m lazy and I think raisin bran is a snack food. If I added milk, I’d need a bowl, and a spoon, and by then its a meal, not a snack.
Tradition, following on examples like porridge?
I was going to ask if it has always been traditional to put cream on oatmeal or other hot cereals, perhaps to make them tastier. If that’s so, it seems pretty natural to carry the same idea over to cold cereals.
Most food tastes better with some fat on it, especially if it has very low fat content to begin with. That’s why we put dressing on salad, butter on bread, mayo in potato salad, cheese on pizza, stir-fried food with rice, etc.
Yep, people have been putting milk or cream on porridge–or corn mush, or wheat mush, whatever-- for a long time. I expect it was considered completely natural from the beginning, since cereal is essentially dehydrated grain mush, and was just a quick and easy version of what everyone was already pretty used to.
I once ate Buc Wheats cereal with beer instead of milk. It was good, actually.
I don’t mind water on cheerios, or most cereals, when I’m out of milk.
And some things, like cream of wheat, that can have milk or not, I usually make without milk, just because milk tends to scorch if I don’t watch it.
That, and I’d also guess it evolved from the practice of putting milk on bread (perhaps as a simple, nourishing meal for someone with bad teeth, or a way of making stale bread more palatable).
Out in right field, but maybe because milk was healthier or easier to get than good drinking water back in the day. I base that on absolutely nothing. Fyi, It depends on the cereal for me. I use skim milk, but will use orange juice on cinnamon toast cruch cereal. Who here drinks milk while eating cereal? Assuming you use milk on your cereal as well.
I once poured horchata (we were out of milk) on Rice Krispie Treats cereal. That was quite possibly the sweetest thing I have ever eaten in my life. I don’t recommend it on something sugary but horchata might work on corn flakes.
protein
That’s my answer and I’m sticking to it.
(I prefer yogurt, myself, but same idea).