Why Do We Eat Cereal for Breakfast?

[MULTIZ321]

Why Do We Eat Cereal for Breakfast? And Other Questions About American Meals Answered - by Natasha Geiling/ Food & Think/ SmithsonianMag.com

"For the privileged eaters of the Western world, so much of eating is done routinely: cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, probably a protein and vegetable for dinner. Sometimes, the act of eating is so second nature that the guidelines that dictate how and when we eat are invisible—guidelines such as eating a steak for dinner but not for breakfast, or eating lunch in the middle of the day. Eating wasn’t always dictated by these rules—so why is it now? That’s the question that food historian Abigail Carroll set out to answer in her new book, Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal. Tracing the meal’s history from colonial America to present-day, Carroll explores why we eat cereal for breakfast, how dinner became American and how revisiting the history of our meal can have a tpositive impact on the future of eating. Carroll spoke with Smithsonian.com about the guidelines that control our dining."

You probably wouldn’t eat this meal for breakfast—but why? Photo via Flickr

Richard

 

[DeniseM]

No mystery here - Europeans have eaten cereal for breakfast in the form of porridge (porage, parritch, etc.) for ever, and our forefathers were mostly European.

 

[persia]

I don't like cereal. I often skip breakfast. I do appreciate a full english breakfast with real bacon (from the pigs back, not that streaky stuff), eggs, beans and toast. Maybe black pudding too.

 

[theo]

Oh yum...

I think I can feel my arteries closing up on me while just looking at this picture...

 

[Timeshare Von]

Why Do We Eat Cereal for Breakfast? And Other Questions About American Meals Answered - by Natasha Geiling/ Food & Think/ SmithsonianMag.com
<<SNIPPED>>
Richard

Sometimes growing up, we'd have waffles for supper. Whenever I suggest that now, my DH goes nuts!

 

[dougp26364]

But it's all you'll need until dinner.

 

[Passepartout]

Every society- and most people have their favorite- or traditional breakfast. I posted in another thread about a great breakfast buffet in Hong Kong. Fish, rice, veggies that the Asians enjoyed. Traditional sausages, beans, 'fatback' bacon the English like, Cold cuts, cheeses yogurt for the continental Europeans, and eggs, cereal, hash browns, omelettes, toast, jam for the Americans.

I get a kick sometimes going into a 'regular' American restaurant at breakfast time and seeing how many people spend time perusing the menu and sort-of mentally 'tasting' all the offerings, then finally ordering the same thing day-after-day that they always have for breakfast.

Human nature is fun to observe.

Incidentally, that whole 'Food' issue of Smithsonian Magazine Richard linked to was a good one.

Jim

 

[SueDonJ]

Sometimes growing up, we'd have waffles for supper. Whenever I suggest that now, my DH goes nuts!

Me too! I LOVE breakfast for supper but don't have it unless Don is traveling because he doesn't like it. But we eat a cooked breakfast maybe only two or three times a year, which makes bacon and eggs a true luxury for me.