This article is part of our Cocktail Chatter series, where we dive into the wild, weird, and wondrous corners of history to share over a cocktail and impress your friends.
While breakfast is historically the most important meal of the day, busy mornings can make it challenging to squeeze in a proper meal before dashing out the door. This became especially apparent to food brands in the 1950s and ‘60s: Many women who joined the workforce during World War II remained in their positions instead of returning to homemaking, and men returned to their pre-war careers after they were discharged. This meant there was less time for working adults, especially those with children, to fill their stomachs in the morning. This shift pushed brands to produce fast-to-cook yet filling foods to start the day with, and the fierce competition would end up producing one of the most beloved American breakfast foods in history.
Of the three major breakfast food producers of the time — Kellogg’s, Post (today known as Post Consumer Brands), and General Mills — there was particular animosity between Kellogg’s and Post, which both have manufacturing facilities located in Battle Creek, Mich. In the 1920s and ‘30s, the two companies were reported to frequently count the number of boxcars entering and leaving their competitor’s facility and were often accused of stealing ideas from one another, with one of the most famous examples the debate over the true creator of Corn Flakes. In 1961, Post’s pet division debuted Gaines-Burgers,
