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 Dansville, New York. The cereal never became popular, due to the inconvenient necessity of tenderizing the heavy bran and graham nuggets by soaking them overnight. George H. Hoyt created Wheatena circa 1879, during an era when retailers would typically buy cereal (the most popular being cracked wheat, oatmeal, and cerealine) in barrel lots, and scoop it out to sell by the pound to customers. Hoyt, who had found a distinctive process of preparing wheat for cereal, sold his cereal in boxes, offering consumers a more sanitary and consumer-friendly option. Packaged breakfast cereals were considerably more convenient than a product that