Asylum.com has been kind enough to list the top 20 weirdest breakfast cereals of all time (or something like that) and not surprisingly, most of them originated in the late 60s/early 70s. Having spent the glory years of my childhood in the 70s, I recognized most of these brands which hearken back to a time before the government knew what was good for you and forced healthy versions of real food into your pantry. The food police would likely drop dead at the mere mention of most of these cereals. And to think, America's youth started their days fully charged and ready to bounce off the walls after an unbalanced breakfast of sugar, artificial color, more sugar, artificial flavor and even more sugar. One of the cereals is even described as having "oat gloops". Wonder how that would have worked out on today's nutritional information label? And I won't even get started on the mascots for said cereals, most (if not all) of which have strong sexual undertones, flagrant promotion of violence or both.

Unfortunately, my mother was the food police in our household and prided herself on being a "health nut" (emphasis on "nut"). We had carob instead of real chocolate, made our own peanut butter at the health food store and ate brownies made with wheat germ. We ate tofu and veggie dogs long before they were available in your local grocery store. I was embarassed to bring my friends over because we had brown bread on our PB&Js and white milk - exactly the opposite of what "normal" people ate! I campaigned tirelessly for Quisp - here's a picture in case you're unfamiliar with this brand:

- mainly because I liked the little guy with the propellor on his head. But sugared cereal for breakfast? Good God in Heaven! Oh no, we ate granola. (Fishmonger, I'm sure you're laughing your vegetarian ASS off at this.)

Needless to say, by the time I got my driver's license (ergo, a little independence), I had reached a point where I would have committed a felony for some Wonder Bread and a chocolate milkshake. And it probably explains my borderline obsessive love of cheeseburgers.