Today we are taking a look at perhaps the most classic Cornflakes of them all: 'Kellogg’s Cornflakes'. While nowadays all kind of cereals are being referred to as Cornflakes, the original one was implemented by the famous Kellogg’s Brothers in 1894. It wasn't the first cereal, but it is arguably the most famous ever made. Same as Playstation for example has become a synonym for videogames, Cornflakes has become a synonym for Cereals. Cornflakes were actually created per accident. The brothers were working as doctors at the time and took some experiments to find a new healthy food for their patients. One of this experiments turned out to be extremely popular among their patients and the brothers took the opportunity to create their own company and go into mass production with these Cornflakes.
Till this day the Kellogg’s company is still selling this product. The box image has the iconic green Rooster, called Cornelius Rooster, in front of blank white background. I always found this image extremely fitting. Regardless of what you think of the quality of the product, it symbolizes the down to earth approach of this relatively basic approach to cereals. While other products are far more extravagant, both in design as well as taste, Kellogg’s Cornflakes keeps it simple. You see the product, you see the caricature of the Rooster and you know what you get.
That being said, the basic approach also has some downsides. Even though I was very aware of Kellogg’s Cornflakes as a child, I always perceived them as a product for older people. All the other cereals had goofy animated characters on their boxes and far more extravagant or shiny looking cereals. You can say what you want, but as a kid, a visually attractive box image is what naturally catches your interest and decides whether you want to try out the product or not. I know many other children eating Nestles Nesquik or Kellogg’s Choco Krispies or Froot Loops, but I never met another kid, who ate Kellogg’s Cornflakes or cared for Cornelius Rooster.
Fun Fact: Even though Cornelius Rooster is in the minds of most people (including mine) so inseparably linked to Cornflakes, he actually just took over in 1957. Before that, the 'Sweetheart of Corn' was advertising the product and gracing us with her presence on the boxes. That being said, the sweetheart doesn’t seem to be based on one specific person and we can see many different versions of her, that vary very much in looks. Sometimes she is blond, sometimes brunette, sometimes she is older, sometimes younger and sometimes she is even a doll.
Apart from the sweetheart of corn and Cornelius, there were also some bland boxes without any promotional material in front of them and also some Cornflakes boxes with just a corncob as representative of the food. Once again a very basic design, but at the same time very fitting and on the point.
Most other cover variants were those with random children and those with some Celebrities at the time. There were however also some Disney versions to promote popular IPs of the time, like Snow White, Aladdin, the Goofy movie or Lion King.
The overwhelming majority of box covers however are based on Cornelius Rooster. Most of them feature Cornelius in a 2D caricature version as a green rooster. With a blank white background and only a bowl of Cornflakes in front of him, they are very simple and basic, but as I said it does fit the down to earth approach of Kellogg’s Cornflakes. They are often accompanied with the slogans “The Original and Best” or “The best to you each morning”. Some Boxes only feature Cornelius as an Icon image on the box or Cornelius face on a bowl of Cornflakes. One of the most extravagant boxes is probably the special edition for Chinese New Year 2017, which was the year of the rooster and featured Cornelius in red and gold colours. Fun fact: Cornelius has become so popular that he even got multiple different children puppets and even a Pop figure. And talking about extravagant box images, some of the more modern Cornflakes boxes feature pictures of a 3D version of Cornelius on top of them. There is even a commercial with a gigantic real-life Rooster in them. That being said, I personally prefer the more classic look of Cornelius, like on the last box I purchased for this review. It immediately symbolizes everything the product stands for and might even be my favourite of the Cornflakes box images.
The most classic way to actually eat Kellogg’s Cornflakes is to just soak them in milk, like with all other cereals. I unfortunately have to say, that Kellogg’s Cornflakes, in my opinion, taste like eating wet paper. If you eat them dry, which for some cereals, like Cini Minis even enhances the taste, than Kellogg’s Cornflakes already leave much to be desired. Since they are a particularly healthy cereals, they are lacking almost all kinds of sugar and flavour enhancements other products have and unfortunately you can taste that. It is a mix of nothingness and leaving your mouth dry, which makes them really uncomfortable for me to eat. This would be fine if Milk was able to save them. Unfortunately it is not. The milk doesn’t add anything to them and just makes them more rubbery. I have never actually eaten paper, but I imagine it to be exactly like this. The only way I found some kind of enjoyment in the Cornflakes, was to mix them with bananas and quickly swallow them down, so I didn’t have to actually taste them. To be fair however, in this case I only enjoyed the banana mixed with milk. The cornflakes actually made them taste worse. I am sorry to be this blunt, but in my opinion Kellogg’s Cornflakes just taste absolutely awful…
I previously mentioned that I never knew another child eating Kellogg’s Cornflakes, I however still have a childhood connection to this product. While I did try out all kinds of different cereals back than, I was still a regular Nesquik consumer. The only exception was when I was visiting my grandparents. They knew I liked cereals and they told me they also got cereals at home and as you can guess, those cereals turned out to be Kellogg’s Cornflakes. I already didn’t like them back than and I am sure I also at least implied that a few times to them, but there was always another box of Kellogg’s Cornflakes waiting for me each time I visited. After all those years, I can safely say, that nothing changed. I still passionately dislike the taste of this product.
Apart from milk, people have found all kind of other creative ways to eat Kellogg’s Cornflakes. Some eat them mixed with fruit, some together with some ice cream and some even with potatoes, with some fish or on top of pancakes… Each to their own I guess.
There are also many subproducts of Kellogg’s Cornflakes. Kellogg’s Frosties for example are just Kellogg’s Cornflakes with additional sugar. While Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut are Kellogg’s Cornflakes with additional honey instead. Sometimes Kellogg’s Special K is also getting confused with the Cornflakes and while they may look quite similar, Special K are made with rice and wheat, while Cornflakes consist mainly of corn. Special K are also more crispy than Cornflakes.
Apart from subproducts there are however also official different variants of Kellogg’s Cornflakes, of which I have never seen any being sold here in Germany. There are for example Kellogg’s Cornflakes with chocolate flavour. Those look quite interesting, but apparently they have been removed from sale in most countries due to health concerns. There also Kellogg’s Cornflakes with strawberry flavour and strawberry puree. They also look like they might improve the flavour of classic Kellogg’s Cornflakes. Interestingly enough there are also chocolate and strawberry versions of Frosties, which visually look very similar to the Cornflakes versions. I guess Tony the Tiger just really likes to copy his brother in spirit Cornelius. Another variant is Kellogg’s Cornflakes with real honey, which look nearly identical to Kellogg’s Crunchy Nuts, but Google AI ensures me there is a marginal difference between them. Crunchy Nuts apparently use slightly more intense honey and sugar than Kellogg’s Cornflakes with real honey. You learn something new everyday. There is also another rare subvariant called Kellogg’s Cornflakes Almond Honey, which mixes the additional Honey with almonds. Kellogg’s Banana Cornflakes mixes, as the name suggests classic Kellogg’s Cornflakes with Banana chips. Another one I would actually like to try, but it’s not available in my country. A really rare variant are also Kellogg’s Apple Cornflakes, which mix Kellogg’s Cornflakes with apple puree and apple pieces, similar to the strawberry versions. As an adjustment to the Indian market Kellogg’s also published 3 special Indian versions called Kellogg’s Cornflakes Thandai Badam, Rose Badam and Kesar Pista Badam. Apparently those are some popular classic Indian flavours.
The weirdest variant however has got to be Kellogg’s Cornflakes Crumbs and Kellogg’s Cornflakes Crisped Chicken, which is Chicken with a layer of crisped Cornflakes on top of it. Some even suggest using it as part of a Kellogg’s Cornflakes Chicken Burger. I guess now I have truly seen everything.
Result:
If healthy cereals like Kellogg’s Cornflakes are the key to long lasting health and perhaps even eternal life, than I rather die young. The price is just too high and I am not talking about a financial price. The taste is just too disappointing for me personally. Maybe some of the variants are better products, but I unfortunately don’t have access to any of them.
I feel bad for doing this, but I have to give Kellogg’s Cornflakes a
2/10
They are the worst I have eaten so far. I would recommend trying it out at least once for its cultural significance, but to quickly switch to other cereals the next time...
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