Random Cereal

One press draws five breakfast cereals, each with a line on what it is and a checked fact.

Random Cereal

FarinaMilled wheat cooked as a hot breakfast cereal in the United States. The name is Latin for meal.
Hausa kokoSpicy millet porridge, a street food commonly eaten at breakfast in Ghana, Nigeria and Togo.
MuesliRolled oats with fruit and nuts, eaten without cooking. Developed around 1900 by a Swiss physician.
Rice KrispiesCrisped rice, on sale since 1928. Known as Rice Bubbles in Australia and New Zealand.
QuispBaked corn meal and syrup in the shape of flying saucers, introduced in 1965.

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How it works

The random cereal list holds flakes, puffs, rings and wheat biscuits from the box, and porridges from pots around the world. Almost every card names the grain, and nearly half give a year from the cereal's history.

Read the full guide

Cold from the box, hot from the pot

Thirty-four are cold cereals. The other 42 are porridges and hot cereals, among them grits from the Southern United States, upma from Southern India, juk from Korea and gofio from the Canary Islands.

The oldest cereals on the list

Granula dates from 1863 and shredded wheat from 1893. Corn flakes, at first made of wheat, came in 1894, and muesli around 1900. Puffed rice has been made commercially in the West since 1904.

Stuck on breakfast? Take the first cereal in the draw that is already in your cupboard.
Quiz round: hide the facts, read out a name and ask which grain it is made from.

Questions and answers

What was the first breakfast cereal?

Granula, invented in 1863 by James Caleb Jackson at his health spa in New York State. It was baked graham flour broken into nuggets, and it had to be soaked overnight before it could be eaten.

What is the difference between granola and muesli?

Granola is rolled oats, nuts and seeds baked with oil and a sweetener until crisp. Muesli is traditionally neither sweetened nor baked: the oats are eaten as they are, or soaked overnight, with fruit and nuts.

Is oatmeal the same as porridge?

Close. Porridge is any grain boiled in milk or water. In British English the word means oat porridge, which North Americans call oatmeal. Oatmeal is also the name for the ground, rolled or steel-cut oats themselves.

All 76 cereals

Flakes 9

Bran flakes Small toasted flakes of wheat or oat bran, usually served cold with milk. On sale since 1915.
Chocapic Cocoa-flavoured wheat flakes, introduced in 1984. Sold as Koko Krunch in Asia.
Corn flakes Toasted flakes of corn. The first flakes, made in Michigan in 1894, were wheat.
Force wheat flakes First produced in 1901 in Buffalo, New York: the first commercially successful wheat flake cereal.
Frosted Flakes Sugar-coated corn flakes, introduced in 1951 as Sugar Frosted Flakes. Frosties in many countries.
Honey Bunches of Oats Three kinds of flakes with oat clusters and a hint of honey, introduced in 1989.
Poha (flattened rice) Rice grains pounded into flat flakes, a breakfast staple in South Asia. Also called chiura.
Raisin bran Bran flakes with raisins, first sold in the United States in 1926. Sultana bran in some countries.
Special K A cereal of lightly toasted rice, wheat and barley, introduced in the United States in 1955.

Show all 76 cereals (67 more)

Puffs and pops 8

Corn Pops Sweetened puffed corn, introduced in 1950 and sold for years as Sugar Pops.
Golden Nuggets Large, crunchy yellow balls with a slight honey flavour, sold in the UK and Ireland.
Honey Monster Puffs Puffed wheat sweetened with sugar and honey, launched in the UK in 1957 as Sugar Puffs.
Kix Puffed cornmeal cereal, introduced in 1937. It was the first cereal shaped by extrusion through a die.
Popcorn with milk Popcorn with milk and a sweetener: a breakfast cereal Americans ate in the 1800s.
Puffed rice Rice grains expanded by heat and pressure. Made commercially in the West since 1904.
Puffed wheat Whole wheat grains puffed under steam pressure, by a process Alexander P. Anderson invented in 1901.
Rice Krispies Crisped rice, on sale since 1928. Known as Rice Bubbles in Australia and New Zealand.

Rings, squares and shapes 9

Cap'n Crunch Corn and oat cereal made since 1963. Its flavour recalls brown sugar and butter served over rice.
Cheerios Rings of ground oats, introduced on 1 May 1941 as Cheerioats. The name changed in 1945.
Chex Criss-crossed, bite-size pieces of rice, corn or wheat. It began in 1936 as Shredded Ralston.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Small squares of wheat and rice covered with cinnamon and sugar, first produced in 1984.
Froot Loops Fruit-flavoured rings in bright colours, introduced in 1963. Every colour has the same flavour.
Honeycomb Honey-flavoured corn pieces in a honeycomb shape, first released in 1965.
Life Checked squares made mainly of oat, corn and whole-wheat flour, introduced in 1961.
Lucky Charms Shaped oat pieces with small marshmallows, sold since 1964. The first cereal to include marshmallows.
Quisp Baked corn meal and syrup in the shape of flying saucers, introduced in 1965.

Biscuits, granola and muesli 8

Granola Rolled oats, nuts and seeds baked with honey or another sweetener until crisp, sometimes in clumps.
Granula Nuggets of baked graham flour from 1863, the first manufactured breakfast cereal. Soaked overnight.
Grape-Nuts Wheat and malted barley flour, salt and dried yeast. Developed in 1897, baked as a sheet and broken up.
Muesli Rolled oats with fruit and nuts, eaten without cooking. Developed around 1900 by a Swiss physician.
Overnight oats Rolled oats soaked overnight and eaten cold the next morning, which is how muesli was first prepared.
Shredded wheat Whole wheat formed into pillow-shaped biscuits, first made in the United States in 1893.
Weet-Bix Whole-grain wheat biscuits from Australia. The name was filed as a trademark on 19 August 1926.
Weetabix Palm-sized biscuits of whole-grain wheat, produced in the UK since 1932.

Porridges and hot cereals 42

Arroz caldo Filipino rice porridge with chicken and plenty of ginger, a popular breakfast. The name means rice broth.
Bogobe jwa logala Sorghum flour simmered in nearly boiling milk until it gels. A breakfast dish in Botswana.
Brenntar Swabian porridge of roasted spelt or oat flour, cooked with water and milk. The name means burned porridge.
Brose A Scots word for uncooked porridge: oatmeal mixed with boiling water and left to stand a short time.
Bubur ayam Indonesian rice congee with shredded chicken, a favourite breakfast sold by travelling vendors.
Champorado Sweet chocolate rice porridge from the Philippines, served hot or cold, often for breakfast.
Congee Rice boiled in plenty of water until it softens. The English name comes from a Tamil word.
Cornmeal mush Cornmeal boiled in water or milk. It is often left to set, cut into squares and pan-fried.
Cream of Wheat An American brand of farina, first made in 1893 by wheat millers in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Farina Milled wheat cooked as a hot breakfast cereal in the United States. The name is Latin for meal.
Frumenty A medieval porridge of wheat boiled in milk or broth. The name comes from frumentum, Latin for grain.
Genfo Stiff Ethiopian porridge of barley or wheat flour, served as a mound with a hole for spiced butter.
Gofio Canary Islands flour of roasted wheat or maize, most often stirred into a little milk for breakfast.
Grits Porridge of coarsely ground corn or hominy from the Southern United States, often a breakfast dish.
Hasty pudding Grain cooked in milk or water; in the United States, usually ground corn. Named in Yankee Doodle.
Hausa koko Spicy millet porridge, a street food commonly eaten at breakfast in Ghana, Nigeria and Togo.
Instant oatmeal Finely cut oats rolled extra thin, often with a sweetener and flavourings added.
Juk Korean porridge of rice or other grains, often eaten warm as a morning meal.
Kama Flour of roasted barley, rye, oats and peas, stirred uncooked into milk or buttermilk in Estonia.
Kasha In English, a porridge usually made from buckwheat. In the Slavic languages the word means porridge.
Koozh A Tamil millet porridge cooked in a clay pot, eaten as breakfast or lunch in Tamil Nadu.
Laba congee Congee of rice, beans, peanuts and dried fruit, eaten on the eighth day of the Chinese twelfth month.
Lugaw Filipino rice porridge, savoury or sweet. A Tagalog dictionary of 1613 already defines it.
Maypo Maple-flavoured oatmeal developed in Burlington, Vermont, and first marketed in 1951.
Mieliepap Maize-meal porridge. In northern South Africa the soft kind is breakfast, with milk, butter and sugar.
Oatmeal Hulled oats that are ground, rolled or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats.
Ogi (akamu) Cereal pudding of maize, sorghum or millet in Nigeria, Benin and Togo. The grain soaks for up to three days.
Okayu The congee of Japan, usually made with five or seven parts water to one of rice.
Porridge Grain boiled in milk or water. In British English the word means oat porridge.
Ready Brek Rolled oat flakes and oat flour, served hot. Launched in 1957 as an instant porridge.
Red River Cereal A hot cereal of cracked wheat, rye and flaxseed, first created in Manitoba, Canada, in 1924.
Rolled oats Oat groats steamed and rolled into flat flakes. Thin-rolled ones are sold as quick or instant oats.
Scott's Porage Oats A Scottish brand of porridge oats. The name dates from 1914, and the oats are milled in Cupar, Fife.
Semolina porridge Semolina cooked in milk or water, often served with sugar or cinnamon. Eaten in Europe since Roman times.
Sowans A Scottish dish boiled from the fermented starch left on oat husks after milling. It tastes sour.
Steel-cut oats Oat groats chopped into two or three pinhead-sized pieces. Also called pinhead oats or Irish oatmeal.
Tinutuan Rice congee with pumpkin, corn and leafy greens, a popular breakfast in Manado, Indonesia.
Tsampa Roasted barley flour, a Tibetan staple usually mixed with butter tea. It needs no cooking.
Uji The Kenyan porridge, generally made with millet and sorghum and served for breakfast and dinner.
Upma Thick porridge of dry-roasted semolina or coarse rice flour, a breakfast dish from Southern India.
Wheatena Roasted, ground whole wheat cooked as a hot cereal. It began in New York City around 1879.
Wild rice porridge Wild rice with cream, dried fruit, nuts and maple syrup, a breakfast dish in Minnesota.

How this list was compiled: The 76 cereals are our own choice and every line is original to this site. Kinds of cereal come first; the 28 cereals that one company makes are listed by trade name as plain text. What each cereal is made of, and every date, place and name on a card, was checked on 2026-10-06 against that cereal's own English Wikipedia article (indexes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_breakfast_cereals and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_porridges). Six cards rest on a wider article: okayu on Congee, uji on Ogi, mieliepap on Ugali, instant oatmeal on Oatmeal, overnight oats on Muesli and puffed wheat on Puffed grain; popcorn with milk is from the Popcorn article. A date or an origin that the article does not give is left off, and no card makes a nutrition or health claim. The sorting into cold cereals and porridges, the four cold shapes and the grain filter are our own. Other grains means barley, rye, millet, sorghum, buckwheat or wild rice; spelt is filed under wheat. A cereal whose article names no grain shows only under Any grain. Licence: own work