Friday, November 13, 2020

Exploring the American Breakfast

What do Americans eat for breakfast? Ask them and they will tell you they eat something very healthy and admirable -- probably never a donut. Survey takers have an explanation for this: when you ask someone what they eat, they will tell you what they think you'll find admirable. You could put it this way: they lie. (Source)

Vintage ad for Sara Lee cakes in foil pans.
Probably still very good for breakfast.
I have a vivid memory of a family whose children I often babysat when I was a teen-ager. They normally ate Sarah Lee cake for breakfast, especially chocolate cake. The children promised faithfully that if asked in school what they had for breakfast they would say eggs, toast, and orange juice. I was impressed, as virtually every day our family actually did eat orange juice, cold cereal with milk, and toast, in that order. Occasionally oatmeal. We never ate Sara Lee cake, not even for dinner. Also, I don't remember any teachers ever asking what we had for breakfast.

The question of what Americans eat for breakfast -- and what they should eat for breakfast -- is still a fraught one, discussed by numerous long articles. The breakfast industrial complex that produces boxed cereal, single-serving yogurt cups, toaster-ready pastries, breakfast bars, frozen breakfast burritos, and similar things for home consumption constantly tries to keep up with changing tastes and changing willingness to prepare or clean up from breakfast. Cereal is losing. Pop tarts and yogurt may be gaining. The fast-food and to-go coffee industry has its own issues with consumer desires -- not to mention the current coronavirus disruptions to any eating out. 

My most recent diner breakfast in Florida last January.
You can eat breakfast out when circumstances are favorable. Trendy cafes serve iconic avocado toast or egg-white omelets -- or whatever is newly trendy. Roadside motel chains present plastic tubes of Fruit Loops or corn flakes, gummy bagels with plastic tubs of cream cheese, a fruit bowl with bananas and flavorless apples, and do-it-yourself waffle makers for the guests to argue over. Wannabe classic diners serve ham-and-eggs or shrimp-and-grits or biscuits-and-gravy or pancakes-and-bacon or even eggs Benedict, all maybe with a side of hash-browns. Fancy hotel dining rooms serve huge buffets with every breakfast item imaginable and some that aren't imaginable. Much has been disrupted by the social distancing necessitated by the coronavirus outbreak, of course.

And who needs to mention McDonald's, Starbucks, or Dunkin'? 

Regional exotic or homey favorites abound: New Jersey's Taylor ham on a roll, Hawaiian Loco Moco, New Orleans beignets, New York bagels and lox, Southwest huevos rancheros, Southern chicken-and-waffles, Pennsylvania Dutch scrapple and many more. For rather comprehensive lists of state and regional favorites see "The Best Breakfast in Every State" and "51 Regional American Breakfasts."

From our cross-country trip in 2014: breakfast at Best Western motels. 

Breakfast offers an opportunity to start each day anew. You can skip breakfast entirely as many Americans do, or you can buy the manufactured-by-advertising idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You can find many hundreds of recipes online for breakfast dishes both simple and elaborate. You can try to choose a healthy breakfast that's right for a need to slim down or at least not gain weight -- a choice that changes with constant new "research" about what's healthy and what isn't. Or you can go to Cheesecake Factory and eat a 2,180 calorie breakfast in the form of French toast with bacon or ham: this is the most caloric of the breakfast menu items listed in "The 17 unhealthiest breakfasts in America," dated Sept. 26, 2020. Runner up: Bob Evans' double meat breakfast with eggs, pancakes, and hash browns, at 2020 calories and "more than a day's worth of fat, saturated fat, and over two full days' worth of sodium."

The other day I was so stressed by the election aftermath that I had ice cream for breakfast. That was unusual. I won't mention any more specifics of my breakfast practices, you would think I was lying. 

Anyway, I miss diners in these days of restricitons.


Blog post © 2020 mae sander.

24 comments:

Nil @ The Little House by the Lake said...

I don't like lots of cereals out there, I find them too sweet. So I make different types of legumes, savory oats, and even sandwiches for breakfast. :)

I can't imaging eating cake for breakfast. :)

My name is Erika. said...

I love breakfast. I could eat it for dinner, lunch or even breakfast. Most days I have a breakfast shake-not lying. Not sure it is the healthiest but it does contain milk. But eggs or pancakes or oatmeal...and I must admit, if there is pie in house, that is really tempting. Enjoyable post Mae, and I now you know my breakfast preferences. I can't say I've ever had ice cream though.

Angie's Recipes said...

My favourite breakfast is egg and bacon. Actually I just had 6 runny egg yolks for the breakfast...really yummy.

Tandy | Lavender and Lime (http://tandysinclair.com) said...

I think ice cream for breakfast is a grand idea, dairy and eggs really. I love pancakes and bacon but usually eat fruit for breakfast during the week and eggs and bacon on the weekend.

Anne in the kitchen said...

This is an interesting post. I can't stand food in my mouth until at least mid day, so I might eat breakfast (late) once or twice a month.

Beth F said...

If I can enjoy a boozy brunch once in a while, why not an ice cream breakfast?

gluten Free A_Z Blog said...

Growing up we had eggs , toast, and orange juice for breakfast. Sometimes oatmeal with raisins. Interesting post.

Valerie-Jael said...

When I grew up in England the famous English breakfast was common. I was never a breakfast fan, I just need my 3 mugs of ☕ coffee and I am ready to go! Thanks for an interesting article, Valerie

Rain said...

Oh wow, Sarah Lee cakes...I remember those, they were so hard for me to digest! I'm a creature of habit...I always have an oj/yogurt smoothie each morning as I feed the dogs and cats...then I have my big decaf coffee and once in a while Alex and I will have cereal (not the healthy kind) while watching cartoons. We are diner style people too and those big diner breakfasts are SO GOOD. But we haven't gone to a restaurant in years now. Usually around Christmas and around Alex's bday I make a big English style breakfast and that's our meal of the day!

Tina said...

I very much enjoyed this post. We are boring eaters for breakfast at our house, I suppose by the standards of what I just read. Every morning it's coffee, then another coffee with a banana and chese stick OR a breakfast bar such as Kashi or a Trader Joe fig bar.
Then after a short walk (four trips back and forth on the driveway) we have Cheerios cereal. About once a week I toast English muffins and layer a slice of cheese, one slice of bacon and an egg.

More than you needed to know but I missed blogging so after posting two days agao, I needed to visit people and chime in :-)

Deb in Hawaii said...

Fun post! I tend to love leftovers for breakfast especially leftover pizza when I have it. ;-) On weekends I often make a simple version of fried rice, something you probably find on just as many breakfast plates in Hawaii as you you do loco moco. ;-)

Divers and Sundry said...

I grew up eating dry cereal with milk for breakfast. Now I don't eat breakfast at all, but we sometimes have breakfast-type foods for supper. Last night we had cheese omelet, bacon, and biscuits.

Ice cream for breakfast sounds like a fun choice :) And the coffee cakes and sweet rolls they sell as breakfast foods... aren't those cake?

Those old diners weren't around much anymore even before Covid-19, but I remember them fondly and am enjoying the Hopper image.

Jackie McGuinness said...

I miss diners too. I don't miss those horrible breakfast included hotels with those people stuffing their faces because it is free and helping themselves to extras for the drive.
I do love a full breakfast out or a lovely breakfast buffet like you get in Asia.
At home what I eat varies on what is available. I do love a boiled egg. This morning it was scrambled with ham. I also will have whatever baked goods I have made.

Jeanie said...

What a good and thought-provoking post! Me? I'm usually an ëat breakfast around 10"kind of person -- that way I can get by with two meals and maybe a snack in-between. But I really love the "full English" (except for the blood pudding!) -- jusst can't have it every day! We usually have a nice Sunday breakfast, though, not quite full English but enough to fill you up!

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

What an interesting post, Mae. I've never seen a Sara Lee cake, so I guess I'm lucky. I eat one meal a day, and it's usually mid afternoon. I loved the idea of breakfast for my meal, as I often fix an omelet and toast. Now I'm REALLY hungry.

You asked about my alignment. I like my words directly under the image and left oriented. Sometimes Blogger won't let me left align, but I've at least figured out how to get the extra line out from between my words and the image. There are days when Blogger is SO frustrating, and NOW, I can't add images to my left sidebar. BLogger hates me, I'm sure.

Melynda@Scratch Made Food! said...

That egg breakfast platter looks delicious! I love visiting a diner also, and yes, miss it in our current times.

Cakelaw said...

So true - people will lie if they are ashamed of or feel guilty about what they actually eat. When travelling through the US, I loved the waffles and the home style potatoes that were everywhere.

shelleyrae @ book'd out said...

I’m not a first-thing-in-the-morning breakfast person, unless a cigarette and Pepsi Max counts, or if someone else is making it :) on American shows family’s always seem to have feasts with pancakes, bacon,eggs etc. My kids get cereal or toast if they are lucky ;)

Wishing you a great reading week

Mae Travels said...

Hi Everyone,
It's fun to hear what you eat for breakfast! I am starting on a reading project about the famous "Full English Breakfast" and I sidetracked my reading to find out what people have said about the American breakfast.

It's amazing how many cultures have very special traditions about this meal! I'm thinking of a few that I've experienced: Israeli, French, Japanese, Scandinavian! Let me know about your experiences.

mae

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I'd love to see what's on the list of the best breakfasts in every state.

I grew up with boxed cereal in milk every morning. Now I eat yogurt and homemade granola with my coffee.

I miss diners, too.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I grew up in MA and actually have no vivid memories of any specific breakfasts although I did learn to like coffee by the age of 12 with my mom in the morning. I do remember having Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and Oatmeal in the house. I doubt I ate eggs very often though. Now our breakfasts vary from oatmeal, scrambled eggs, pancakes and or bagels or english muffins and fruit and 2 cups of coffee.

Laura at Library of Clean Reads said...

I grew up in an Italian household and my mom used to beat a raw egg yolk with some sugar and a bit of espresso coffee. It was a thick liquid concoction like a custard and that kept us going until lunch.

Iris Flavia said...

This was truly interesting and left me wanting a burrito right now!!!
So many different foods, I would´ve never guessed. Boy are we boring over here!

Heather @ Random Redheaded Ramblings said...

This is such a good post! I’ve been lucky enough to visit Florida several times and the best thing is the breakfasts, it’s so much better than what we have here in Scotland.