Breakfast foods should never be confined to just the morning. It’s an act of defiance to make breakfast for dinner and I love everything about it. Though I do believe cooking someone a morning meal is one of the most loving acts, as you’re sacrificing sleep to selflessly nourish another.
Did you eat cereal growing up? Why specifically did you decide to focus your efforts on creating a new kind of cereal?
Try telling an Italian grandmother that she’s not allowed to get Frosted Flakes because there’s too much sugar. It’s impossible and will not end well for the resistance. My mom cared about my health and only let me have granola and Kix. Sugary cereal was off limits. That’s why I always ate cereal at my grandma’s house. She had the good stuff. Why couldn’t there be something fun like Tony the Tiger mixed with the healthy ingredients Mom would approve of? Enter: OffLimits.
Kellogg’s and General Mills are the cool kids you want to hang out with because of their popular vibe and addictive, sugary coating… but it’s all fake. Healthy cereals tend to make miraculous wellness claims like ‘zero sugar’ or a million grams of protein, but those brands are just perpetuating the oldest trick in the book: you’re not good enough, but if you buy our product then you will be. Another fake crew with a boring-flavored wrapper. OffLimits isn’t here to put you in a box. Boxes are for cereal, and our cereal isn’t telling you what to do. We use real ass ingredients for real ass people and if you want to sit at our table, you’re welcome to!
Describe the characters you created for the cereal box art—what or whom were they inspired by and what is the meaning behind the art?
Cereal is a vehicle for culture so it was important to use that opportunity to create a crew of counterculture characters that face and destigmatize human cycles of emotions, from anxiety to depression. These emotions make DASH and ZOMBIE extremely real to me, and I hope they’ll be a comfort and voice for many.
ZOMBIE is most like Daria, Gudetama, and Bart Simpson while DASH is most like Summer, Sandy Cheeks, and Lisa Simpson. They’re all misunderstood in their own ways. That’s the beauty of cartoons. They can do, say, and be anything they want and we plan to use that to its fullest.