Cornflakes were invented by accident when a young girl left her breakfast unattended.

Cornflakes were invented by accident when a young girl left her breakfast unattended. The story goes that in 1894, John Harvey Kellogg was working at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, where he was the superintendent. He had been trying to create a more nutritious alternative to porridge for his patients. One day he sent his assistant, Carlos Ellsworth, to make some for his younger brother and sister. However, Carlos forgot about them and left them on the stove too long. When he tried to salvage them, they had turned hard and crispy.

The invention of cornflakes might not have happened if it weren’t for the forgotten breakfast, but there is another theory as to how they came about. Some people believe that the idea came from Dr Kellogg’s brother Will Keith Kellogg who was also working at the sanitarium at the time. Will Keith had been tasked with making something similar but accidentally burned it.