Nostalgia: Why Cerelac babies were ‘Babylonians’

There were babies and then there were ‘Cerelac babies’ in Kenya.

Cerelac, made by Nestle Kenya (since 1967), was a highly nutritional infant cereal, which, back in the day, enjoyed a ‘top of the mind positioning’ and was the near preserve of the loaded.

If you never used a matatu, was always in Sunday Best, was ever in Bata Prefect shoes and hardly slept on an empty stomach then you were said to be a ‘Cerelac baby’; meaning you had it easy growing up on the dusty black cotton soils of Eastlands.

Those on the tougher side of the tracks labelled such kids ma-babi a play on ‘Babylon.’

‘Babylonians’ were the bourgeoisie in the Kenyan society to those in hustler families weaned on hardcore reggae and unfathomable Sheng only they could understand.

Families where Cerelac was a nutritional rumour had to be creative, they improvised how they fed their babies in various ways.

One was preparing roasted matoke which the mother first ate to a pulp, then swiped the contents with her index finger before inserting it on the waiting mouth of a future Kenyan voter.

Women, more so those in slums and rural Kenya, also fed their tois with warus in this fashion, but alas! the hungry mother usually ended up fuller than the infants, swallowing more than she was giving the wailing toto.

The entry of blenders has gradually killed the habit of mothers eating first to feed totos, especially in urban homes, where Cerelac babies once reigned supreme.