Breakfast: The Most Important Meal of the Day in Many Lands

Breakfast’s the most important meal of the day. On any given day, about 85% of American adults agree, according to a recent Harvard Health Publishing study.

That’s a good thing, says Teresa Fung, a registered dietitian and adjunct professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The problem, though, is that what many people eat may not be what they need. “They think about and plan what they’ll have for dinner and lunch—but in the morning, they’re too rushed to pay attention

Human metabolic processes are more active during the day, so a light meal at breakfast might not be what the body craves. After overnight hours without eating anything, a person’s insulin sensitivity, which governs how well one extracts fuel (glucose) from food, is higher in the morning but lessens as the day wears on. Thus, a well-structured breakfast and smaller meals later would be ideal since it would put food consumption in synch with the body’s biological timing.

Which poses the question: what constitutes a healthful breakfast? The body craves protein from foods such as eggs, cheese and beans, which is digested slowly to produce a longer sensation of fullness.

Next on the list are complex carbs in whole grain bread and cereal. These also slow digestion, thus helping to avoid “sugar spikes,” the natural rise created when sugar circulates in the blood after a meal. Fruits and veggies, whole or as unstrained no-added-sugar juices, round out the meal with appropriate vitamins and minerals. For many, creating this meal is simply a trip to the fridge for leftovers that meet the need, a stratagem Fung calls “a great idea” for minimizing food waste and keeping breakfast prep simple. In any event, meeting the morning menu requirements does not have to be boring. True, toast, eggs and maybe a strip of bacon are typically American choices, but a quick zip around the Internet shows that the All-American breakfast is not the only energy boosting food at breakfast. Those in the following seven countries frequently use intriguing rice-based and lentil-based dishes foods. In alphabetical order, we begin with Cambodia where a typical breakfast features kuy teav, a rice noodle soup made with pork or beef broth, along with shallots, garlic, and herbs.

In China, a huge country in which specific choices may vary from region to region, consists of noodles or rice spiced up with fried veggies and of course steamed, baked or fried or dim sum.

Germans enjoy a traditional breakfast (frühstück) a simple tabletop assortment of fresh breads, plus sausages, cold sliced meats, and local cheeses, with jam to sweeten the plate and palate.

Greeks and their Mediterranean neighbors favor savory pies such as spanakopita, (crispy layers of phyllo dough filled with spinach and feta cheese) or kagianas (scrambled eggs with tomatoes and feta).

Like China, India’s choices vary by region, although rice- and lentil-based dishes are common. Southerners favor spiced vegetable curries or stews while Northerners opt for parathas (stuffed breads) and the potato-stew aloo-puri.

Jamaicans welcome morning with their official national dish, savory ackee (fruit from an imported West African tree that when cooked resembles scrambled eggs) and salted fish plus fried plantains.

Finally, a wafuu (traditional) Japanese breakfast, like a typical Manhattan Japanese restaurant meal, has many small dishes, everything from rice to miso soup, soybeans, nori seaweed, pickled vegetables and fish.