Age-old muesli is new again

Muesli has been around for more than a hundred years, but it taps into several food trends that are popular today: healthful, raw, vegan, gluten-free, breakfast and served in a bowl.

Created around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner, muesli traditionally consists of rolled oats, shredded apple, berries, seeds and nuts, soaked in milk or yogurt. But today, versatile muesli can be built on a base of a variety of rolled grains topped with a plethora of fruits, fresh or dried, nuts, superfoods and seeds, soaked in juice or dairy-free milks.

Here are some restaurants that are serving traditional muesli, and those with a twist, according to Datassential:

Gotan in New York serves Bircher Muesli, under the “Health Bowls” section of its menu, consisting of oats, cranberries and walnuts soaked in apple juice.  

The Sanctum Café in Orlando, Fla., offers muesli with raw oats, almond and flaxseed flours, coconut, cinnamon, vanilla, fresh fruit and candied walnuts soaked in almond milk.

Rifrullo in Brookline, Mass., has Coconut Bircher Muesli consisting of soaked oats with organic chia seeds, flaked almonds, apple, homemade yogurt and local honey.

Contact Marcella Veneziale at [email protected]