A few weeks ago, we picked up this USDA certified organic kids cereal from our local supermarket since we wanted to offer something new to our twins. We were pleased to see that it became an instant hit with them. It goes well with milk as a breakfast cereal. At other times, they also like to munch on it as a crunchy snack.
Good taste aside, this product has a modest 8g of sugar per serving, decent amount of fiber, no saturated fat or trans fat, no cholesterol and a good mix of vitamins and minerals. It is based on organic whole wheat grain and rice flour, so not an option for those with gluten intolerance or allergy. I would have liked to see even lower sodium than the 105 mg per serving. I don’t understand why salt has to be added to a dry, sweet cereal. Still, overall I am quite happy with the nutritional value of this product compared to many other popular kids cereals on the market.
Apart from being organic, we liked it because we are also a big supporter of Cascadian Farms (disclaimer: I have not received any sponsorship from them to say this!). This is because they do seem to embrace the core idea behind organic farming and not just work the system to get the USDA Organic stamp on their products. Its founder, Gene Kahn, goes a long way back to the original organic movement – enough to merit a detailed feature in Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Today, Cascadian Farms is a subsidiary of General Mills, and although surely Kahn has had to compromise on his ideals, his pragmatic pursuit of these ideals resonates with me a lot. I would love to find out more about Cascadian Farms firsthand.
One could argue that it is still processed food and that a large portion of the high cost is due to marketing and packaging. Point well taken, but cereal is a fact of every day life in America, clearly seen by the long aisles stocked with all kinds of cereals in a typical supermarket. It is not going anywhere anytime soon. So I would rather select something that resonates with me as a brand and provides good nutritional value.
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