The History of Breakfast.

 Breakfast is something my mother said I should always eat.  At school, they said you need breakfast to keep your brain working right and yet so  many people I know skip that meal because they want to loose weight.

My dad has always loved his eggs, bacon, and toast but we couldn't afford it very often.  Usually we had cooked rice, rice with raisins, rice with cinnamon, or oatmeal with rice or cinnamon. I grew up always eating breakfast because I was raised that way.

It appears the idea of breakfast being important began back in the 1940's with Grape Nuts.  They  created an advertisement stating "Eat a good breakfast - Do a better job" that was heard on the radio, while grocery stores passed out pamphlets attesting to the same thing.  Grape Nuts and other cereals are a fairly recent development.

Prior to the creation of cereals, people from the middle and upper classes ate pancakes, eggs, pastries,  along with oysters, boiled chicken, and beef steaks but it has not always been this way.  The ancient Romans didn't eat breakfast because they believed in eating only one meal a day.  Historians aren't sure who ate breakfast during the Medieval Europe.  Some feel only the rich enjoyed breakfast while others believe laborers ate the meal to provide energy and there are some who believe everyone skipped it.

It is known that American Colonists age a very hurried breakfast only after working for several hours first.  Historians do agree that breakfast became something people ate first thing in the morning with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and people moved to the city for work.  In addition, work schedules were now set by the employer so people started eating before starting their workday.

During the 1800's, people began marketing cereals as health necessities.  The first cereal - "granola" came about in 1863 but it had to be soaked in milk to even be eaten and earned the nickname "Wheat Rocks".  Even with that, it sold 50 tonnes the first year to meet the demand of people and by 1903, over 100 cereal companies could be found in Battle Creek where Kellogg made his corn flakes.

Out of this, two main cereal companies survived, Kellogg and Post.  People loved cold cereal because it was fast, easy, and saved a lot of time.  It met the needs of a population who had less time to cook while spending long hours working.  These two companies kept making cereals, some old, some new and by 1940 Post sugared most of their cereals.  Kellogg followed suite and both companies created mascots to attract more buyers until we have shelving full of cereals.

Furthermore, in 1916, the orange industry began advertising people should drink their orange because they had a surplus that year.  This brought the idea that people should include orange juice with their breakfast.  Breakfast might be cold cereal, eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles, biscuits and gravy, or a variety of other things.

So now you know a bit more about breakfast and its history.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.