Granola

The basic elements of granola are rolled oats, nuts, and honey; but that is just the beginning of a world of add-ins that can include coconut, dried fruit, even chocolate. While its usual place is in a bowl with milk or yogurt, granola also is made into sweet snack bars that are especially liked by outdoors types wanting maximum calories in portable form. While granola may be associated with 1960s hippie culture, in fact it was invented a century earlier, in the 1860s. Then known as granula, it was the original breakfast cereal, created as health food for people on a vegetarian diet. The counter culture rediscovered it in the Age of Aquarius, when it became a favorite thing to eat for people too stoned to cook. In those heady years, food writer Ita Jones recommended granola because it provided nutrition for people engaged in sit-ins and demonstrations, and anyone “occupying buildings for a length of time.” However like so many anti-establishment affectations, granola soon became big business, its connotations of naturalness and health making it an irresistible product for consumers yearning to remain forever young. It’s now right up there on supermarket shelves along with Cheerios and Corn Flakes.