When I was a kid living at home, I hated breakfasts. It worked out well because my mother didn’t like making breakfasts at all. My Dad would have a cup of coffee with her, and then head down town for a quick breakfast to go, and then he would be on his way to work.

At the time, there was a new thing called “Instant Breakfast;” a milk-based drink that came in coffee, chocolate or strawberry flavor. It had all the nutrients you’d find in a normal breakfast, so it worked great for both Mom and me.

When I had left home and had an apartment for myself, I found myself making what most would call weird breakfasts. Some mornings I would make ham and eggs with toast, pancakes and bacon, oatmeal with blueberries, and my favorite: leftovers. It wasn’t at all unusual for me to start my day with a plate of leftover spaghetti and meat balls, or bread pudding, or warmed-up lasagna, or a slice of cake with ice cream.

The Crankee Yankee and I love weird breakfasts (fortunately!). It’s not at all unusual for us to sit down with our first cup of coffee and a plate of leftover Chinese food, or cold pizza or warmed-up lasagna. But then again, we are weird anyway.

Every now and then I look up what kind of breakfasts people enjoy around the world. This is what I found called “Breakfast Around the World.” Enjoy!

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For the second installment of our …From Around the World series, we dig into food! Or, more specifically, breakfast. We surveyed our exchange students and asked them to submit examples of what they eat for breakfast in their home countries. Breakfast can vary greatly between cultures or be quite similar (you’d be surprised at the universality of cereal). There’s no accounting for individual taste, but those preferences are influenced by what’s available in your community. Many of the answers were funny, surprising, and, frankly, pretty standard breakfast items. 😛

Yana D. from Kazakhstan

Tea, scrambled eggs, pancakes, butterbrots

 Emma S. from Spain

Cereal

Victoria C. from Chile

A typical Chilean breakfast would include our delicious bread (hallulla, marraqueta o dobladita) with butter, jam, cheese, avocado, eggs, quince jam or manjar (a national candy like caramel). We would drink coffee or tea.

Hanna M. from Switzerland

I would say usual Swiss families eat bread (zopf) with jam as breakfast, but me as a person with German parents eat bread with sausage or ham.

Masako A. from Japan

Rice, miso-soup, grilled fish, pickled vegetables

Mauro G. from Italy

Milk and cookies (Editorial note: So many Italian students reported this!)

Lana B. from Israel

Manaqeesh: it’s like a bread and on top of it cheese or something else 

Miar I. from Palestine

Cereal or hummus

Leonie L. from Germany

Something we call Brötchen or a Brezel (pretzel), which is a tiny bread, with butter and cheese, ham, or marmalade and eggs.

Carolé R. from South Africa

Cereal

Alies M. from Netherlands

Yoghurt with muesli and fruit

Lívia W. from Brazil

Chocolate milk, pão de queijo, fruits (in general), and a ham and cheese sandwich

Sanjana Z. from India

Aloo paratha with curd

Florian S. from Switzerland

Cereal

Kwaku B. from Ghana

It varies as it is really based on preference really (Editorial note: Isn’t everything?)

Sara R. from Spain

Sweet things, toasts with oil and salt, churros with chocolate, etc.

Anna B. from Sweden

A cracklebread sandwich

Merle G. from Germany

Cereal on weekdays and rolls on weekends

Issa S. from Jordan

Hummus, falafel, and eggs

Rosario G. from Chile

Cereal