December 23, 2016
Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes and the Pringle potato chips are among the products that returned to store shelves this month, being distributed by Tehran Bouran. The foods come from plants in Spain, Britain and Belgium rather than the United States.
Kellogg products disappeared from the shelves in 2012 as sanctions were toughened. But the sanctions were removed last January. It wasn’t explained why it took more than 10 months to get the products back into Iran shops.
Modern breakfast cereal is a decidedly American phenomenon. But porridge dates back to antiquity and grits were borrowed by American settlers from the Indians.
In the late 1800s, the Seventh Day Adventist Church in the United States made it a matter of theology to avoid meat for breakfast. A church member, John Harvey Kellogg, came up with the idea, which he patented, for Corn Flakes as a health food. Launched in 1895, it rapidly became immensely popular and led to dozens of imitators.
Breakfast cereals have long been sold in Iran, but were consumed only by foreigners and Iranians who had lived in America. Kellogg’s last week said breakfast cereal “is already a growing trend in Iran, with the cereals category already well-established in the local market.”
The regime has not yet declared Snap, Crackle and Pop, the cartoon characters who promote Rice Krispies, to be American infiltrators.