Cereal is also a general term for processed food made from cereal grains.

谷类食品也是由谷类制成的加工食品的总称。

Hot cereals like grits and oatmeal have been around for centuries, but for this episode, we're talking about ready-to-eat cold cereal - you know, the kind you eat with milk while avoiding eye contact with the mascot on the box.

像粗玉米粉和燕麦粉这样的燕麦粥已经有几个世纪的历史了，但在这一期，我们要谈论的是即食的冷麦片——就是泡在牛奶里吃，还要避免和包装盒上的吉祥物眼神接触的那种。

Cereal is heavily promoted today, with an advertising-to-sales ratio four to six times higher than most other food categories.

如今，谷类食品得到了大力推广，广告播出与销售额的比率比其它大多数食品类别高出四到六倍。

That pattern can be traced back to cereal's early history.

这种模式可以追溯到谷类食品出现早期。

In the late 19th century, the Battle Creek Sanitarium served a guest named Charles W. Post who quickly took note of the Kelloggs' successful operation.

19世纪末，巴特克里疗养院接待了一位名叫查尔斯·W·波斯特的客人，他很快注意到了凯洛格兄弟的成功运营。

Post was a salesman, and he saw potential for the products being served at the Sanitarium to take over the breakfast table.

波斯特是一名推销员，他认为疗养院提供的食物能够端上千家万户的早餐餐桌。

In 1897, he developed Grape-Nuts, a crumbled biscuit cereal that, much to the delight of observational comedians, contains neither grapes nor nuts.

1897年，他发明了Grape-Nuts，这是一种碾碎的饼干麦片，让观察式喜剧演员欣喜若狂，因为它既不含葡萄（Grape）也不含坚果（Nuts）。

"What's the deal with self-pollution?"

“为什么要手淫？”

Can you believe my one-man show starring me playing Jerry Seinfeld playing John Harvey Kellogg didn't get funded?

你能相信我假装杰瑞·宋飞扮演约翰·哈维·凯洛格的个人秀没有得到资助吗？

Wha-?

这——？

What Post really brought to the breakfast cereal game was marketing savvy.

波斯特为早餐麦片做出的真正贡献在于他的营销手段。

Prior to the 20th century, advertising was often associated with snake-oil - it had a seedy reputation.

在20世纪之前，只有“万灵油”才会做广告——而“万灵油”的名声并不好。

This didn't deter the salesman though.

但这并没有阻碍推销员的脚步。

Post printed pamphlets claiming that Grape-Nuts could cure appendicitis and even that just eight teaspoons of the stuff gave enough strength to cycle fifty miles.

波斯特印刷了小册子，声称Grape-Nuts可以治愈阑尾炎，甚至8茶匙Grape-Nuts的能量能让人骑行50英里。

Using flashy ads with specious health claims to sell food was a risky move, but it paid off.

用华而不实的广告和惹人怀疑的健康疗效营销食品是一个冒险的举动，但它取得了成功。

By 1903, Post's marketing strategy had made him a millionaire.

到1903年，波斯特的营销策略使他成为了百万富翁。

Post didn't invent breakfast cereal, but he did make it a competitive industry.

波斯特并不是早餐麦片的发明者，但他确实让早餐麦片行业出现了激烈竞争。

Following the success of Grape-Nuts, William Kellogg emulated Post's model.

Grape-Nuts大获成功后，威廉·凯洛格效仿了波斯特的模式。

He ignored his brother's resistance to advertising and launched a campaign encouraging people: "Wink at the grocer, and see what you get."

他无视哥哥对广告的抵制，发起了一项活动，鼓励人们行动起来：“对杂货店店员眨眨眼，看看你能得到什么。”

This sounds less like a marketing campaign and more like creepy advice on flirting with grocers, but it apparently worked.

这听起来不像是营销活动，更像是在离奇地鼓励人们去和杂货店店员调情，但它显然获得了成功。

To sell corn flakes, I mean.

我是说，玉米麦片卖得很成功。

I don't have any data on hookups in the cereal aisle.

我没有任何人们在谷类食品货架旁勾勾搭搭的数据。

Kellogg's sold 1 million boxes within a year.

凯洛格一年内售出了100万盒麦片。

The success of Grape-Nuts and Kellogg's Corn Flakes drew more entrepreneurs to Battle Creek.

Grape-Nuts和凯洛格玉米麦片的成功吸引了更多的企业家来到巴特克里。

By 1911 there were 108 brands of corn flakes, with 60 of them coming right from Battle Creek.

到1911年，108个品牌的玉米麦片中60个来自巴特克里。

With so many cereals competing for customers, brands needed a way to stand out.

面对如此多商家争夺客户的情况，品牌需要找出让自己脱颖而出的方法。

That's where mascots came in.

这就是吉祥物的用武之地。

One of the first cereals to use a cartoon character to move merchandise was a wheat-based cereal called Force.

最早使用卡通人物来售卖商品的商家之一是名为Force的小麦谷物。

Its mascot - the dapper, top hat-wearing Sunny Jim - was a hit in magazine and newspaper advertisements.

它的吉祥物——衣冠楚楚、戴着大礼帽的桑尼·吉姆——在杂志和报纸的广告中大受欢迎。

His popularity helped make mascots standard on cereal boxes.

他的受欢迎程度让吉祥物成为了麦片盒的标配。

Not every mascot was as well-received as Sunny Jim.

但并不是每个吉祥物都像桑尼·吉姆那样受欢迎。

After hitting the jackpot with Grape-Nuts, Charles Post introduced his own corn flakes to the market called Elijah's Manna.

在Grape-Nuts大获全胜之后，查尔斯·波斯特将他自己创造的，名为Elijah's Manna的玉米麦片推向了市场。

The packaging showed the prophet Elijah receiving food from a raven, a design choice that didn't sit well with some Christians.

包装上是先知耶和华从一只乌鸦那里得到食物，这一设计违背了一些基督徒的信仰。

Britain went so far as to ban all imports of the item.

英国甚至禁止了所有该品牌的进口。

Post tried defending himself, saying, "Perhaps no one should eat angel food cake, enjoy Adam's ale, live in St. Paul, nor work for Bethlehem Steel […] one should have his Adam's apple removed and never again name a child for the good people of the bible."

波斯特试图为自己辩护，他说：“也许没有人应该吃天使蛋糕，享受亚当之酒，住在圣保罗，或为伯利恒钢铁公司工作……一个人应该摘掉他的喉结，再也不要用圣经中好人的名字给孩子起名了。”

His argument didn't seem to win over many critics, though.

但他的论点似乎并没有让很多批评者回心转意。