Muesli
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Muesli ['mju:zli] is a popular breakfast cereal based on uncooked rolled oats, fruit and nuts. It was developed around 1900 by the Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital. It is available as a packaged dry form or it can be made fresh.

In Switzerland, it is also eaten as a light evening dish; Birchermüesli complet is muesli with butterbrot and milk coffee.

Originally known in Swiss German as Birchermüesli or simply Müesli, the word is an Alemannic diminutive of Mues which is related to the Old English word moose, meaning stew or pottage.

History

Muesli was introduced around 1900 by the Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital, where a diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables was an essential part of therapy. It was inspired by a similar "strange dish" that he and his wife had been served on a hike in the Swiss Alps. Bircher-Benner himself referred to the dish simply as "d'Spys" (Swiss German for "the dish", in German "die Speise"). Muesli in its modern form became popular in western countries starting in the 1960s as part of increased interest in Health food and healthy vegetarian diets.

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