Breakfast foods, chicken and your mother.

Let's kick off your day with a youtube video of a mcdonalds breakfast commercial.


I read in interesting article in Time magazine(http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1818200,00.html) the other day, about how this writer named Joel stein has an issue with Mcdonalds new southern style chicken biscuit being served on the breakfast menu. I actually don't mind the fact that chicken for breakfast is a new and exiting chapter in american breakfast cuisine (and the race towards a national obesity/depression/arthritis/diabetes/asthma/heart disease/acidreflux/gallstone/liver chirrosis increase in the incoming years), I was kinda interested in how american breakfast foods came to be in the first place. Joel seems to have done some research on the topic and brought up some interesting facts or points i'd like to share with you (obviously, a well-educated and loyal reader of this blog) from the article.

-"America inherited the big Victorian British-Irish breakfast of bread, eggs and pork (probably because it could be cured and stored)".

I think this is a very valid statement. If you think about it, the victorian-american age coincided and was inherited by the introduction of european immigrants in the 1880's to the early 1900's to the united states. at the time the United states had the resources to provide great amounts of dairy, eggs, grains and so forth. with the tastes of irish and english immigrants attuned to such fare, it became popular and we've inehrited it to this day.

Immigrants have had a monumental role in contributing to american cuisine. take, for example, corned beef hash.
Typical irish fare in... well... ireland, is potatoes and meat. preserved meat, to be exact. corned beef was considered by irish americans as a suitable and cheap substitute for bacon in the poor irish quarter of NYC's lower east side, and it caught on. Corned beef could be prepared from leftovers at dinner, and combined with potatoes was made a popular breakfast food back in the day, and now is a popular choice to eat in southern states.


- "Cereals were added at the turn of the century thanks to the Kellogg brothers."

The industrial revolution and the advent of machinery and industrial mass production allowed the Kellogg Brothers to release their first brand-name cereal, cornflakes, in 1906. This method of mass production, which included baking and extruding mashed grains, proved to be very profitable as these cereals could be transported and kept for long periods of time, were relatively nutritious and provided the luxury of not having to cook for a meal. ergo, it became a prominent breakfast food out of nutritional value and convenience. (nutritional value nowadays is subjective when we talk about cereals, but i digress.)

Also, did you know the kellogg brothers were seventh day adventists, and fed cornflakes, along with other bland foods thought to decrease sexual passions, to patients at their health sanitorium? Cool.


-"Doughnuts sneaked in after they were paired with coffee as an afternoon treat for World War I soldiers."

wow. those sneaky doughnuts.


-"In the South, buttery biscuits have long been served with gravy or rich, salty ham."

This tradition has continued unabated for years. it might be a contributing factor to the American South's reputation for having great food, and where the rates for obesity/depression/arthritis/diabetes/asthma/heart disease/acidreflux/gallstone/liver chirrosis continues to lead the nation.


something to chew on, i guess, as you eat your breakfast, is to consider where what you eat came from. you might just be suprised at how "american" your meal is. theres a lot of history.

PS: i meant to talk about your mother, but it didn't seem appropriate. hey, at least you read the article. (even if you were looking for a momma comment.)