THE BRONX — Although The Bronx may be best known as the birthplace of hip-hop, in the early 20th century, it served as the birthplace of puffed cereal as well.
The popular breakfast was invented in December 1901 at the New York Botanical Garden by Alexander Pierce Anderson, a botanist from Minnesota who worked as the curator of the herbarium at Columbia University.
Anderson's successful experiment involved sealing powdered starch inside glass tubes, then heating the tubes up to 400 degrees in an oven, taking them out and cracking them open with a hammer.
"Once the pressure was released, the starch came out a porous, enlarged, snow white mass," according to the NYBG. "Later, rice, wheat, and other whole grain cereals were treated in the same way."
It is unclear whether or not Anderson envisioned puffed cereal as the hugely successful breakfast treat it would become at the time of its creation, said Lisa Vargues, a curatorial assistant at the botanical garden.
"Whether he was dreaming of creating a food product, experimenting just out of curiosity, or both, it is uncertain," she said in an email. "But, he certainly had an amazing and untiring talent for research and invention."
Anderson did taste the rice kernels after puffing them up and gave a sample to his infant son, who proved to be a very big fan, according to the Minnesota Historical Society.
In 1902, he left the lab in the NYBG's current library building and sold both his patent and his services to the Quaker Oats Company.
"The NYBG never secured the patent for it," said Bronx Historian Lloyd Ultan.
Anderson was conducting his research at the garden independently, but said he was indebted to the organization for letting him use its facilities, along with the encouragement and suggestions he received from staff members, according to Vargues.
In 1928, he presented the garden with a $10,000 Alexander P. Anderson and Lydia Anderson Research and Fellowship Fund to show his appreciation for their support, she said.
Anderson promoted puffed rice as a treat at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, where it proved to be extremely popular.
Quaker eventually marketed his creation as "food shot from guns," and the company also featured it in ads with top celebrities of the day, including Shirley Temple, Bette Davis and Bing Crosby. The treat became known as "Professor Anderson's gift to food science," according to the NYBG.
Anderson conducted more than 15,000 experiments to perfect his cereals over the years, and he received 25 United States patents and 14 foreign ones, according to the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame.
Ultan described the invention as an example of how ingenious The Bronx could be as a borough.
"What is Rice Krispies but a type of puffed rice?" he asked. "So you can’t tell me that The Bronx doesn’t have snap, crackle and pop."
