Available in two varieties, regular and
cinnamon,
Life cereal is a staple of both supermarket dry foods aisles and
kitchen cupboards. This
Quaker Oats Company franchise gained national fame in the 1980's with a series of commercials featuring soon-to-be
pop culture icon and fussy eater
Mikey. Although marketed to children, Life forgoes the dulcitude and pizzaz of multicolored
marshmallows (a la
Lucky Charms) in favor of wholegrain oat goodness. The cereal itself is composed of identical square
biscuits, each of which is itself a cross-hatch of baked
wholegrain flour. The tiny
crevices serve the dual purpose of holding
kernels of sugar in the cereal's dry state, and
milk in its
wet state. The result is that Life is one of those curious
cereals that sink in milk.
Also of note, the regular and cinnamon varieties of Life differ much moreso in color than in taste. Whereas regular Life is a consistent light
toasted-brown, Cinnamon Life is marred by dark brown speckles. The subtle difference in taste between the two is
mocked by the sharp disparity in color.