A
Cereal that I have seen at supermarkets from normal
Safeway to yuppie
Zupan's to yuppie-natural
Nature's. Uncle Sam Cereal is made of "Toasted whole-grain
wheat flakes with crispy whole
flaxseed", and does indeed advertise itself as "A Natural
Laxative". This
patriotic cereal packages itself in a box whose design appears unchanged since the early 1980's; the box shows diagonal red and white stripes around the border, the words "
Uncle Sam® Cereal" in bright blue letters, and a poorly
saturated picture of a bowl of the cereal with two whole shiny
waxy strawberries (their kind "
serving suggestion"). The packaging also touts the flaxseed content, and claims 2000mg of
Omega-3 Fatty Acids per serving. And the
exciting note on the top of the box instructs you to turn the box upside-down and
shake before each serving to ensure even
distribution of the flaxseed.
You can probably tell by now that I was intrigued.
I purchased some of the cereal today, and sampled it this evening. I delivered an approximately 50g serving into a bowl, and added enough Rice Dream (original enriched, made from organic rice) to cover the cereal, approximately 10cl. Prepared with the refreshing side accompaniment of 15cl of Silk brand chocolate soy milk, I lifted the spoon to my mouth, and awaited a potential taste delight.
result?
It was somewhat underwhelming. I had had cereals with flax before, and had been quite impressed. But Uncle Sam was just plain bland. It was basically slightly mushy wheat, with little flavor and a disturbing, vaguely salty aftertaste. I did not give up hope, however. I added a dash of raw sugar, mixed it up, and sampled again. Ahh, improvement! The sugar took some of the dullness off the experience, which allowed me to focus on the delicious, nutty flavor of the flaxseed. It still was far from a breakfast sensory delight spectacular, but on the enjoyable end of the spectrum. I would, however, say that, when not overcome with patriotism, my previous flax cereal experiences would have been preferable.
Uncle Sam Cereal was invented in
1908 in
Omaha,
Nebraska, by a certain
Lafayette Coltrin. This man was similar in appearance to
Uncle Sam, the patriotic father figure, and quite proud of this; thus was he driven to name his cereal so. Uncle Sam Cereal contains whole wheat
kernels, whole flaxseed,
barley malt, salt, niacin, thimin mononitrate, and
riboflavin.