 The Roman Meal Company was founded on the principles that Canadian physician Robert Jackson believed to have been the components of the healthful regimen of Roman soldiers, who purportedly consumed two pounds of wheat or rye in their daily rations.Jackson's first product was a hot mixed-grain breakfast cereal called Dr. Jackson's Roman Health Meal.In 1927, Tacoma master baker William Matthaei, whose family had been in the baking business in Germany since 1686, purchased the company.