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Hafragrautur, fermented soybeans, honey and clotted cream: The most important meal of the day really does vary from country to country.
Thanks to the New York Times' Malia Wollan and photographer Hannah Whitaker, we get a brief glimpse at what breakfast means to kids around the globe in a fascinating piece called, "Rise and Shine: What Kids All Around the World Eat for Breakfast."
The article is a brief but vibrant journey around the world, highlighting what children might eat in places like Istanbul, Paris and Malawi. As Wollan writes, morning meals are far more interesting than most dishes stateside.
In America's case, sweet is the natural choice. Wollan spoke with New York University's Krishnendu Ray who explained, "The idea that children should have bland, sweet food is a very industrial presumption. In many parts of the world, breakfast is tepid, sour, fermented and savory."
And that is precisely what we find in this snapshot study. For example, four-year-old Koki Hayashi enjoys a typical Japanese breakfast of, "green peppers stir-fried with tiny dried fish, soy sauce and sesame seeds; raw egg mixed with soy sauce and poured over hot rice; kinpira, a dish of lotus and burdock roots and carrots sautéed with sesame-seed oil, soy sauce and a sweet rice wine called mirin; miso soup; grapes; sliced Asian pear; and milk."
That's a far cry from my own version of a well-balanced breakfast, which incidentally came in tandem with a box sporting Count Chocula. Debate all you want, but there is nothing better to kick start your day like marshmallows drowning in a bowl of chocolate milk. Incidentally, the nap ten minutes later is sublime.
Now for the most part, I travel with my stomach. There is a very real need to step off the plane and head to the nearest diner, hole in the wall or gastropub hot spot. I find it interesting to see what comes up from room service for breakfast in various countries and seek out local diners to get a real authentic feel for the culture.
Travel is as much about eating as anything else, so we are so enamored with one meal viewed through the eyes of various cultures.
For a less specific and more general glimpse, BuzzFeed has a video that might interest you:
My favorite from the NY Times' study has to be Amsterdam's chocolate toast-at least that's what I choose to call it.
Five-year-old Viv Bourdrez enjoys hagelslag, which is a slice of bread with a sprinkling of chocolate goodness.
Wollan explains:
"For Viv, breakfast is a glass of milk with bread, unsalted butter and - most important - sweet sprinkles, which come in multiple flavors (chocolate, vanilla, fruit) and sizes (small, large, shavings). A government-run website promoting tourism boasts that every day the Dutch eat at least 750,000 slices of bread topped with the chocolate sprinkles called hagelslag (''hailstorm''), making it the country's most popular bread topping."
I would love to try Istanbul's spread of delights as well as Malawi's deep-fried fritters, but the sweetness of the hagelslag stood out among the rest.
Perhaps it's true, the American idea of breakfast is sweet. Pancakes, French toast and the syrup that comes with it are just a fancier way to sate taste buds used to sugary cereals.
That's just one man's opinion, because the best part about breakfast is there is no right way to make it.
Now we all have our work cut out sampling countless breakfast meals the world has to offer.
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