Nah, Postum was commercialized at the turn of the 20th Century by CW Post,
who had enjoyed similar cereal coffees at the Battle Creek Sanitarium then
run on Adventist vegetarian principles by the Kellogg brothers. Post was a
recovered patient, who marketed Postum, then went into the breakfast cereal
business. Harvey Kellogg then broke with his older brother to found a
company to commercialize corn flakes, another instant breakfast cereal that
actually had been invented by his brother.

But the idea of cereal coffees may be older than coffee in Europe. It is
likely older than the US, but certainly documented in cookbooks before the
Civil War, and extensively discussed in Confederate sources during the war.


--
-Mark H. Zanger
author, The American History Cookbook, The American Ethnic Cookbook for
Students
www.ethnicook.com
www.historycook.com



"Dr " > wrote in message
...
> Postum, to, my knowledge, was started during WWII as a substitute for
> coffee.
>
> Why would anyone actually "WANT" to drink it?
> It's kinda like that horible stuff the Brits used during the war, ,
>
> What was it? vegamite? or something just as yukie, , , , ,
> My Grandfather and Grandmother drank Postum during the war, but no one
> else in the family would drink it.
>
> Except for nostalgia, and remember, , , , , , ,
> Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.
>
> Ron C.
>
> =======================
> On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 00:40:38 -0700, (Patrick Porter)
> wrote:
>
> >I have seen Postum in the store here in California recently---what I
> >really miss is Royal Lunch Milk Crackers, though
>