Breakfast Foods: Manufactured Food

At the close of the 1800s, a combination of events was taking place that would bring industry into the kitchen, especially to the breakfast kitchen. The Industrial Revolution had made factories and factory life a commonplace; transcontinental railroads transported factory products coast to coast; although many Americans still lived on farms, the cities were beginning to take over as population centers; the United States Department of Agriculture and the home economics movement were promoting scientific cooking as the cleanest and the best; and women were just starting to work outside the home. The race was on to find the products that would simplify the American woman’s life, while giving her family quick, nutritious meals.