Grain strain

Breakfast was my first-ever bowl of the apple'n'cinnamon-flavoured American cereal Apple Jacks (bought on clearance at Woolworths). Tasted all right. Was easy to eat, though afterwards I felt barely satisfied.

I've never been a fan of cereal. I certainly never wake up craving it. Sure, I'll often have something like muesli with banana and yoghurt, but only because I know it's healthy. I'd much rather a cheesy toasted sandwich.

While I ate silos full of Corn Flakes, Rice Bubbles, Puffed Wheat, etc. as a rugrat, that was 'cos (a) I rarely had a choice in the matter, and (b) I usually desperately wanted the promotional item that came with it.

The Apple Jacks box has a two-player maze game on the back. That seems about the extent of the freebies these days. No figurines, vehicles, collector cards, etc. Not even a cut-out-and-wear C-3PO mask.

For a while, manufacturers here upped the quality of these extras. I recall scoring a copy of "Monopoly" for the PC (I crushed the AI on the hardest difficulty) and a mini radio in the 2000s. Weren't there pedometers as well? Then either a law changed or the companies realised it didn't make a difference to sales.

Consequently, children today are denied the pleasure of collecting cards randomly packed in their Weet-Bix, then sending away for the poster to paste them onto. How I loved the series on rally cars!

The funny thing is, while I'm in no hurry for a second bowl of Apple Jacks, I would try more American cereals if the price was right. I'm naturally drawn to foodstuffs I've not tried, and years of seeing ads for US brands in comic books has only heightened my curiosity about Cap'n Crunch and his cronies. A future post?