I remember rare occasions when I was a kid when I would wake up for school and there would be pancakes and eggs and bacon on the table and some orange juice or Sunny Delight to drink. But these exciting opportunities were just that: rare. Most days I walked down the stairs to the toaster loaded with Pop-Tarts. I would usually be disappointed if I couldn't devour a healthy breakfast, but then I realized the convenience of the Pop-Tart. My parents could put pastries in the toaster and continue preparing for their day without having to worry about too much cleanup. It was during these early days of my studies that I truly discovered a love for sweet, fruit-filled pastries. Post Cereals was the first company to come up with the idea for a pastry that would later inspire Kellogg's Pop-Tarts. In the early 1960s, Post began developing a method of wrapping dog food in aluminum foil to keep it fresh and avoid refrigeration. They began applying this method to foods intended for human consumption and created a new breakfast pastry that could be made in the toaster and would complement their already popular cold cereals. The announcement of this new breakfast pastry, which Post decided to call "Country Squares," occurred in 1963. However, because the product was launched so hastily, one of the biggest competitors of Post, Kellogg, was able to offer his own version. and publish it six months later. Although Post released its Country Squares before Kellogg's version, their sales were poor. Many believed this was partly due to their name. In an era of progressive pop culture, the name Country Squares could be seen as a retrograde way of thinking. Developers working on the project...... middle of paper ......ire in his kitchen. Because of this popularity, Patrick Michaud, a professor at Texas A&M University, conducted an experiment proving that Pop-Tarts could produce flames if caught in the toaster. This evidence led to a large number of lawsuits and since then, Pop-Tarts have carried the warning on their label: "Do not leave toasting appliances unattended due to possible fire hazard." Kellogg attempted to maintain its sales of Pop-Tarts in the United States to other countries, but encountered some difficulty in replicating their success. In the early 1990s, Kellogg attempted to introduce Pop-Tarts to the United Kingdom and encountered very poor sales. The company that made these pastries used lower quality icing that tended to melt in the toaster, which probably ended the campaign before it really gained popularity..