Spare a thought when you tuck into your Rice Krispies this morning - because the humble breakfast cereal is 80 years old this week.
The much-loved rice-based morning staple - famous for its snap, crackle and pop slogan - first hit British shores on November 10th 1928.
Marketed as 'the talking cereal' due to the sound it made when milk was poured onto it, they were initially sold across the country by door-to-door salesmen.
At the same time an army of Boy Scouts handed out free samples on the nation's high streets.
Within eight years Brits were devouring around 1.5 million boxes a year forcing Kellogg's to open a factory in Manchester.
Even a brief halt in production during the rice shortage of WWII failed to slow its sales and now 29 million boxes fly off supermarket shelves.
Highlights of its existence include an advert featuring the Rolling Stones in 1963 and the appearance of a young Jonathan Ross in another seven years later.
Yesterday a spokesperson for Kellogg's said: ''It’s great to see Rice Krispies clock up 80 years on the nation’s breakfast table and we don’t think Snap, Crackle and Pop look that bad for their age either.
“While things like the packet design and pictures of Snap, Crackle and Pop may have changed on the outside – what’s inside remains as tasty as ever.”
“We think mums and dads up and down the country recognise this, which is why generations of British parents keep buying this product.
“We know people love the taste of Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and have really fond memories of eating it – I’m sure many of us remember listening to the snap, crackle and pop sounds the cereal makes as a kid.
“That sound is what makes Kellogg’s Rice Krispies so special and what gives it such a unique appeal.”
Rice Krispies were invented in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA, in the mid 1920s by William Keith Kellogg and was created as a healthy breakfast cereal.
The popular snap, crackle and pop characters first appeared in radio jingles in 1932 and a year later a gnome wearing a bakers hat appeared on the side of a packet introducing Snap to the British public.
The other two gnomes Crackle and Pop started appearing with Snap in adverts and on boxes a few years later.
All three - with their names translated into the required language - eventually became television stars in their own right, starring in a string of adverts beamed to 13 countries.
Snap is the eldest of the group, Crackle is meant to be the kind-hearted middle child and Pop is the mischievous, clumsy younger child.
The Rolling Stones advert featured a one-off rock jingle with an ode to Snap, Crackle and Pop.
A young Jonathan Ross was seen by television viewers sitting at a breakfast table enjoying his bowl of Rice Krispies.
There are now more than 239 groups devoted to the cereal on Facebook including ’I talk to my Rice Krispies’, ‘RKA – Rice Krispies Addicts’ and ‘Why do only Rice Krispies Snap, Crackle and Pop?’
ENDS
The science behind Rice Krispies
Why do Kellogg’s Rice Krispies go snap, crackle and pop?
Each Kellogg’s Rice Krispies is made of a single grain of rice. These grains are gently heated and small pockets of air form in the rice, making it puff up and creating the Kellogg’s Krispie.
When you pour these into the bowl and add cold milk you make the tinny air bubbles crack and shatter (the pressure of the liquid presses against the air bubbles in each Kellogg’s Rice Krispies causing them to contract and push against each other). The big ones pop, the little ones snap and if you get a lot exploding at the same time they crackle.
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