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