Life, 1906-06-07 · page 42 of 42
Life — June 7, 1906 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **full-page advertisement**, not satire. It promotes Shredded Wheat cereal to early 20th-century housewives by invoking the "Pure Food" movement—a progressive-era campaign against adulterated food. The illustration shows an elegant woman checking a June 1906 calendar, symbolizing modern household management. The ad's rhetoric emphasizes that eating Shredded Wheat aligns with scientific nutrition and proper domesticity: it provides "digestible" whole-wheat nutrition superior to refined white flour, fuels daily achievement, and reflects intelligent motherhood. The "Pure Food" reference links to contemporary food-safety reforms following *The Jungle* (1906), positioning Shredded Wheat as trustworthy, scientifically-made nutrition for health-conscious families. The tagline "It's All in the Shreds" emphasizes product integrity and wholesomeness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
June 7, 1905 S : K e DED Every day is a ‘Shredded Wheat Day” in the twentieth-century home where the PURE FOOD slogan is nailed to the inner walls—whcre house-management embraces an intelligent selection of food for the health and happiness of the family | Shredded Wheat Days are full of Sunshine and Success. The world’s work is done on the morn- ing meal. A breakfast of Shredded Wheat Biscuit with hot milk, cream or fresh fruit supplies the energy and power for reaching the climax of the day's achievement—the top-notch of mental or physical endeavor. Shredded Wheat is made of the finest wheat that grows, cleaned, steam-cooked, and drawn into fine porous shreds. The white flour miller gives you the starch in the wheat berry, discarding the outer bran coats that are so rich in nitrogenous and flesh-forming elements. You can’t make muscle or brain out of starch. In the shredding process ALL the flesh-forming, strength-giving elements stored in the whole wheat berry are presented IN DIGESTIBLE FORM. It is made In two forms, BISCUIT and TRISCUIT. The BISCUIT is delicious for breakfast with hot or cold milk or cream, or for any meal in combination with fruit or vegetables. TRISCUIT is the shredded whole wheat cracker, crisp, nourishing and appetizing. Delicious as a toast with beverages or with cheese or preserves. The +* Vital Question Cook Book’’ is sent for the asking F Ei IT’S ALL IN THE SHREDS The Natural Food Company, Niagara Falls, N. Y. comicbooks.com