Breakfast cereal other grains and yellow peas could be used. In many modern cultures, porridge is still eaten as a breakfast dish. North American Indians had found a way to make ground corn palatable, later called "grits" (from the Old English word "grytt", meaning coarse meal) and "hominy". While this became a staple in the southern U.S., grits never gained a hold in the northern states. Food reformers in the 19th century called for cutting back on excessive meat consumption at breakfast. They explored numerous vegetarian alternatives. Late in the century, the Seventh-day Adventists based in Michigan made these food reforms part
Breakfast cereal had to be cooked and as a result of this convenience (and clever marketing), they became popular. Battle Creek, Michigan was a center both of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and of innovation in the ready-to-eat cereal industry. And indeed, the church had a substantial impact on the development of cereal goods through the person of John Harvey Kellogg (1851–1943). Son of an Adventist factory owner in Battle Creek, Kellogg was encouraged by his church to train in medicine at Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York City in 1875. After graduating, he became medical superintendent at the Western Health Reform