Breakfast has recently become my favorite meal of the day. But through chats with friends, family, and strangers, I learned just how different breakfast can look for different folks.
There was a time not too long ago when I was afraid to make grits.
Perhaps it was more of a lack of confidence in my ability to do it well, but it prevented me from making one of my favorite foods. I'd watch my mother make them and study how she somehow always knew the right grits-to-water ratio without even using a measuring cup. I'd observe with transfixed focus how she'd stir them so perfectly and consistently achieve peak grits consistency. I'd convince myself that it looked mad simple and that I too could master the great talent of making grits, just as my foremothers had generation after generation before me.
But I didn't. Or at least not for a while. Until one day, I mustered the gall to give it a go. Unsupervised.
Well, not entirely unsupervised. I knew I'd need a little guidance. So, I rang my beloved 82-year-old bestie/grandmother/grits connoisseur, Betty, and she gave me the most predictable and frankly unactionable advice that you can possibly imagine:
"Lia, you just gotta feel it."
"No, I can't tell you exactly how long you gotta stir it, you just gotta look at it and then you can tell if you need more water."
"I don't use no measuring cup!"
It be your own grandma, mane.
But despite the less-than-informative conversation, I pressed on. I silently begged Betty's mama/my great-grandmother, Laura, to somehow pass from heaven to earth her very famous wisdom on making grits onto the descendant she never met. And chile, ask and you shall receive!
That very day, friends, I made my first pot of grits unsupervised and unassisted. Now, could they have cooked a little longer? Yes. And should I have added just a bit more water? Probably. But they honestly weren't bad! And little did I know, my continued commitment to achieving proficiency in making this very dish would catapult my love for the very meal it is a staple of: breakfast.
Breakfast plays three very key roles in my life these days: a meal, a tradition, and a routine.
In this last year, I've become more active than I've been in my entire life. And to push and challenge my body in pretty strenuous workouts 5-6 days a week, I absolutely need consistent and nutritious fuel to help me do that effectively. That's where breakfast comes in.
Every breakfast includes either grits or oatmeal because hot grains are the easiest carriers for my protein-packed additives of choice: chia seeds, protein powder, pumpkin seeds, and ground flax seeds. It may alter the color, but the taste is untouched! I also usually complete the meal with berries, a vegetable, sausage, an avocado, and egg whites for a truly delicious and nutritious experience. It looks good, it tastes good, anddd it makes me feel good? Like what more can we ask of a meal, honestly.
You've met three of my near ancestors: my mama, her mama (Betty), and her mama (Laura). Each of these South-Carolina-born women not only was brought up with breakfast on the table every morning, but they enjoy/ed it with a passion. I'm not sure about Laura, but my mama and Betty's favorite meal of the day is and has always been breakfast (probably because of Laura and her infamous biscuits). The daily practice of breakfast is a common thread that tied the morning routine of all three of these women together and every time I throw some grits or sausage on the stove I feel very connected to that gastronomic tradition. Those three women had the chance to cook breakfast with and for each other from childhood to elderhood, eat together, and fellowship over this one meal. And I'm grateful that me, my mama, and Betty have had that same opportunity many times.
Breakfast has worked wonders for how I move through the day. Beyond the nutritional benefits, it's improved my daily experience by adding structure to the way I spend time. I've always been a morning person, but my mornings were often random and not very optimized as to what I was doing with my time. But once I incorporated breakfast into my daily routine, it became a mile-marker of sorts, helping me keep pace with where I am in the morning and how much more of the morning I have to get things done. Right now, my routine is set so that I don't work out after breakfast and I don't do work before breakfast. It seems minute but it's a lovely and tasty metronome to which I move through my morning.
Breakfast is a meal consumed and celebrated (or avoided) all around the world. It can take up different shapes, colors, flavors, meanings, and presentations in every culture and community.
Miss Josephine Hall, better known as Mama Jo, recalls very vividly breakfast in her home as a youth to be the scent of her father's coffee and the children's hot chocolate, her mother's fresh biscuits scattered about the table on every plate, and even the mornings when their grits were accompanied with steak. The 97-year-old resident of Columbia, SC (and Betty's eldest sister), now pairs her childhood connection to breakfast with the medical advice of her adulthood to curate a (clearly very effective) approach to the meal.
"I was told breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day because the word breakfast really means you're breaking the fast. You went all night without eating. I heard a foreign doctor say once: 'The earlier you eat your breakfast and take your medicine, it'll start working for you through the day.'"
Mama Jo also called upon the mothers of today to "start the children with the early breakfast of healthy food." But Erin of Los Angeles is already on it for her 17-month-old daughter, Rylan-Reese.
"Right now, she's into a berry mix normally including blackberries specifically, but also raspberries and strawberries and sometimes blueberries; with turkey sausage, spinach, cheese, and depending on the mood some mushrooms. Or maybe just some simple cream of wheat maple and brown sugar flavor."
About 5,707 mi west of Erin and Rylan, Meru is out and about in Osaka, Japan fueled with much-needed energy from her nutrient-packed, go-to breakfast.
"My favorite breakfast is rice with fermented soybeans, which is pretty nutritious and rich in carbohydrates and protein. Rice is pretty filling and...it provides energy supply for my body and brain."
Jared, a photographer and artificial syrup lover living in DC by way of the suburbs of Chicago, remembers (and currently knows) breakfast as a less-than-welcome part of his early morning routine.
"I don't be liking to be bothered when I first get up. Bothered, talk, doing anything with my mouth. That joint need to stay closed for at least 20-30 minutes before I go on with my day."
And when I say breakfast looks so different for different folks, a quick survey of some other folks I know proves that to be true:
Lucas // Geography student // Helsinki, Finland via Belvedere Park, Decatur: I think I like a traditional thumbs-up challah French toast breakfast with butter, powdered sugar, and maple syrup. A sunny-side-up egg on the side would be delightful. Maybe some chia pudding with raspberries and a cup of tea with milk and honey.
Allison // Jada's baby cousin // Lancaster, SC: Cereal! Because it's really crunchy.
Asia // DEI coordinator // Atlanta via Baton Rouge: My favorite breakfast that I make myself is a really good parfait. Wallabee greek yogurt, lots of different fruits, and a good trail mix. That's like my jam.
Erin // Hairstylist // Los Angeles: Eggs with mushrooms, spinach, bell peppers, onions and crumble sausage! Seasoned with salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, onion powder, and fresh garlic [with] a side of some sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper on top! And maybe some eggs waffle to go along with it and warm syrup..."
Krystle // High school ELA teacher // Atlanta via Los Angeles: Scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, beef sausage, and a biscuit.
Jacob // Art student // Helsinki, Finland: What I'm always eating for breakfast is some bread, preferably my homemade [sourdough] bread...with eggs, which is sorta like a fixation, you know/ I go through these waves of being really into fried eggs and then eating that for three months in a row and being absolutely fed up after a certain point.
Dalyn // Political Science student // Los Angeles via Franklin, LA: l love waffles, I'm a waffle girl. But recently I've been into cinnamon raisin bagels.
Ameerah // Production assistant // Atlanta via St. Croix: Something where I can get a majority of the food groups on one plate, which is usually like a vegetable or protein hash or some bowl like oatmeal, chia seeds, or an açai bowl where I can add toppings. When I eat out, I don't really care about the food groups. I'd get a Belgian waffle.
Mama Jo // THAT girl since 1925 // Columbia, SC: Grits, corned beef hash, bacon, jelly and butter with toast, and orange juice. And be sure to put some onions in the corned beef hash.
Valerie // Betty's second-born // Columbia, SC: I don't really eat breakfast since I do intermittent fasting and I don't really start eating until the afternoon. But before, I was into juicing and that consisted of spinach, kale, apples, bananas, oranges, and probiotic powders.
Brynn // Technical consultant // DC via Decatur: pastry and espresso when I was traveling was a fave.
And you, dear friend? I hope this journey through the famed "most important meal of the day" has either made you hungry or inspired you to reflect on your own relationship and experience with breakfast. Perhaps you're even thinking of trying something new! Either way, I'm rooting for you through it all! Cheers to feeding our body the food it needs for us to live a good, fulfilling life!
