The Truth Behind Graham Crackers and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes

By: Annabelle Maria Jeffrey

Everything has a story to tell, even the creation of certain foods we snack on like Oreos and Pringles chips. But did you know that Graham crackers and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes were not created for the health reasons we know today, instead they were used as masturbation suppressants? Yes, you heard it right; they were invented to stop people from masturbating!

During the early 1800s, sexual acts like masturbation were frowned upon and seen as a mental illness that could eventually lead to blindness or death. To keep people from dropping like flies, Sylvester Graham, a pastor and a dietary reformer, believed that a vegetarian diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, bland carbs, and a little dairy might put an end to such inappropriate behaviour. Hence, the Graham cracker was born.

After the death of Graham, his entourage (called Grahamites) decided to disband leaving one of the members, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg to continue the pursuit of Graham’s dream – of annihilating impure thoughts – by creating plain corn flakes.

Unbeknownst to many, this cereal was created accidentally by the doctor’s brother who had absent-mindedly left cooked wheat outside and like all creations, curiosity worked its magic and corn flakes was born.

John Kellogg, then served his patients those flakes and they were surprisingly well-received, which gave the doctor the idea to use the cereal as a cure for masturbation, since it did fit Graham’s concept of anti-masturbatory food.

However, the current boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes that we see stacked up in cereal aisles today are very different from the ones John Kellogg used to feed the sick. The ingredient that was missing then? Sugar – which his brother, Will Kellogg used for his batch of corn flakes and trademarked it as what we now know as Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.

Given that these two foods were developed with the initial purpose to curb masturbation, there could be more foods that were created with a similar purpose. The only difference is they haven’t been found yet. You’d never know – they could even be the food products you have lying at home!