Whether you’re a milk-before-cereal guy or a cereal-before-milk guy (the only correct process btw), there’s an undeniable component about the cereal-eating experience that almost everyone takes for granted. That slight crackle and pop sound as the cereal’s air-pockets burst to get filled with milk. It’s a pretty simple yet fundamental auditory feedback that your cereal-eating experience would feel incomplete without. Seriously, imagine pouring milk into your cereal and dead silence, I guarantee you, it wouldn’t feel good.
That snap/crackle is such a core part of the cereal eating journey that Dominic Wilcox designed a bowl that amplifies the sound. If it sounds weird in theory, it absolutely is, and Wilcox isn’t one to shy away from weird inventions (including headphones that swap your left and right ears with each other so everything sounds strange). The aptly named “Snap, Crackle, and Pop amplification cereal bowl” is one such invention that leans into Wilcox’s need to chase the absurd. Designed to look like a gramophone, this bowl puts a microphone to your cereal, enhancing the musical journey you embark on every breakfast.
Designer: Dominic Wilcox
The cereal bowl was commissioned by Kellogg’s as a part of their challenge to make breakfast more interesting. While most people would simply put puzzles on a cereal box to keep kids occupied, this weird contraption tickles their fancy by leaning into the kind of chaos children tend to love. The bowl comes with a horn on top, and a knob on the rim. Load your cereal, add the milk, flip the on switch, and a microphone captures the audio, playing it through the speaker unit built into the horn. The volume knob lets you dial up or down the noise… and I can only assume there’s a battery somewhere in the base that needs charging every few days.
Needless to say, the Snap, Crackle and Pop amplification cereal bowl works with all types of cereal (as well as all types of milk). Just go about your breakfast the way you normally would, and listen to the gentle white noise of your cereal turning soggy. If you want to be even more unhinged, swap the milk out with soda and you’ll hear fizzing sounds too. Your dentist will hate me, but do it for the plot!
