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I recently ran a poll with the question and response options indicated below. I have noted after each option the percent of respondents selecting that option as of the closing date of the poll.
The popularization of what food is closely connected to members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)?
- Oatmeal (62%)
- Dry breakfast cereal (0%)
- Chocolate bar (8%)
- All of the above (31%)
- None of the above (0%)
Oatmeal
This seems like an obvious answer. Most of us have seen the Quaker Oats box, with its image of a Quaker in plain dress. However, the Quaker Oats Company has never been connected to members of the Religious Society of Friends. They just use the name because of its positive connotations. Probably lots of Friends eat oatmeal, and sometimes the Quaker Oats brand, but Quakers did not popularize this particular food.
Dry Breakfast Cereal
Modern cereals are associated with a particular denomination, but it's not the Quakers. The Encyclopædia Brittanica states:
The modern commercial concept of cereal food originated in the vegetarian beliefs of the American Seventh-day Adventists, who in the 1860s formed the Western Health Reform Institute, later renamed the Battle Creek Sanitarium, in Battle Creek, Mich. The entrepreneurial possibilities of the ground, thin-baked cereal dough served to the Sanitarium's patients inspired two men, C.W. Post and W.K. Kellogg, each to found his own business.
Kellogg was a Seventh Day Adventist. I haven't been able to verify the religious affiliation of C.W. Post, but he was associated with a Seventh Day Adventist institution.
Chocolate Bar
Probably few people connect Quakers with chocolate. Yet Friends played a very important role in the popularization of chocolate. The Quaker Fry, Cadbury and Rowntree families dominated the British chocolate industry for two centuries.
Friends were prominent in retail businesses and manufacturing. In Great Britain, since they were not members of the state church, they were denied the opportunity for university training and also to hold public office until the 19th century. Their faith understandings kept them from careers in the military and in the arts. The brightest and most creative Friends, therefore, often used their talents in the business sector. The medical profession was also available to Friends, since in the early days it was learned primarily by apprenticing, not university education. This is significant for Friends' involvement with chocolate, since chocolate was strongly recommended by physicians for its medicinal qualities in the 17th and early 18th centuries.
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