"Cream of Wheat" Chef Identified

[stwasm]

http://www.comcast.net/news/strange/...w_creamofwheat

LESLIE, Mich. - A man widely believed to be the model for the smiling chef on Cream of Wheat boxes finally has a grave marker bearing his name.

Frank L. White died in 1938, and until this week, his grave in Woodlawn Cemetery bore only a tiny concrete marker with no name.

On Wednesday, a granite gravestone was placed at his burial site. It bears his name and an etching taken from the man depicted on the Cream of Wheat box.

Jesse Lasorda, a family researcher from Lansing, started the campaign to put the marker and etching on White's grave.

"Everybody deserves a headstone," Lasorda told the Lansing State Journal. He discovered that White was born about 1867 in Barbados, came to the U.S. in 1875 and became a citizen in 1890.

When White died Feb. 15, 1938, the Leslie Local-Republican described him as a "famous chef" who "posed for an advertisement of a well-known breakfast food."

White lived in Leslie for about the last 20 years of his life, and the story of his posing for the Cream of Wheat picture was known in the city of 2,000 located between Jackson and Lansing and about 70 miles west of Detroit.

The chef was photographed about 1900 while working in a Chicago restaurant. His name was not recorded. White was a chef, traveled a lot, was about the right age and told neighbors that he was the Cream of Wheat model, the Jackson Citizen Patriot said.

Long owned by Kraft Foods Inc., the Cream of Wheat brand was sold this year to B&G Foods Inc.

[Raub]

Cream of Wheat sucks. That is all.

[SkinsOrlando]

So I guess this guy isn't the chef then.

[praise_gibbs]

Have we ever figured out who this guy is?








My grandmother STILL swears it is George Washington. LOL!

[Tarhog]

I grew up on this stuff. I don't know whether I really like it or if it just brings back good memories....

And remember when you actually had to COOK Quaker Oatmeal sans microwave?

[praise_gibbs]

I grew up on this stuff. I don't know whether I really like it or if it just brings back good memories....

And remember when you actually had to COOK Quaker Oatmeal sans microwave?

I unno.. Let me ask my parents.

[Baculus]

I love Cream of Wheat, and I've always liked it more than oatmeal or grits (which is actually very similiar...) And since I grew up on the stuff, this guy's face is actually one of my earliest memories, so it is neat to see the guy identified and receiving a proper grave marker.

[Tarhog]

I unno.. Let me ask my parents.

Shouldn't you be outside mowing the grass?

[praise_gibbs]

Shouldn't you be outside mowing the grass?

Actually, it is funny that you say that because, yes I should be.

[SkinsOrlando]

Have we ever figured out who this guy is?








My grandmother STILL swears it is George Washington. LOL!

William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania is what I've been told

[praise_gibbs]

William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania is what I've been told

BOOM! I am going to throw that info in the chicks face!!!






I mean, i will kindly explain how wrong my g-mom is.

[Tarhog]

http://www.quakeroats.com/qfb_PressR...n=brandhistory

'Of interest, the portrait of the Quaker man on the Quaker Oats package has been updated just three times since its creation in 1877 - once in 1946, again in 1957 and, most recently, in 1972. '


If it were William Penn, you'd think they'd say so here??


Ah....the definitive answer from the company itself:

http://www.quakeroatmeal.com/qo_faqs/index.cfm

The "Quaker man" is not an actual person. His image is that of a man dressed in the Quaker garb, chosen because the Quaker faith projected the values of honesty, integrity, purity and strength.



I can't believe I just spent 10 minutes finding this

And I've also hijacked a Cream of Wheat thread by diverting towards Oatmeal discussion. I rock!!!!

[SkinsOrlando]

I dunno Tarhog, that's pretty damn close, the hair, the hat and even the chin line are almost the same. Seems to me the company doesn't want to pay royalties to Penn's family, but then again Quakers don't have children, where's the X-files music when I need it.

[Tarhog]

Suppose its possible, although I'm throwing my support behind 3 darkhorse candidates:

Julia Childs?
Ernest Borgnine?
George C. Scott?

[SkinsOrlando]

^^^^^