The Myth of the American Breakfast

Origins of the Myth:
The belief that a fried pork product, eggs, toast, juice and coffee constitute the “all American breakfast” has its roots in advertising jingoism, and not in custom or habit. In the not-so-distant American past, meat for breakfast was a luxury found on the tables of the upper classes. Porridge was likely the standard fare for the hoi polloi. Mmmmm. How long ago was that?

Until around World War I, bacon and eggs were a dinner item (supper if you live in the south). But producers of bacon and other cured pork products, in an attempt to sell more such product to the middle class, began pushing swine as a breakfast staple, calling it “The All American Breakfast”, and thus capitalizing on the emotions of the era.

Slap a flag on the package and you have a winner. Restaurants soon caught on. Good solid Americans started the day with a good solid American breakfast. Salute!

My Grandmother's Mythical Breakfast:
My grandmother, an Orange County native who grew up on the shores of the Pacific, often spoke about breakfasts of tea, toast, fruit and cream – served on a silver tray and brought to her on the veranda. But that was pre-1929 and some hyperbole. My grandfather on the other hand, remembered coffee, toast and dried beef and gravy – the more pepper the better. Both were true to their regions and the products available to them.

New Myths - Technology & Colorful Packaging:
When I was kid and food distribution was well on the way to the monopoly that it now is, our breakfast table was certainly interesting to look at – boxes of Pop-Tarts, sugar-laden cereals, Tang, Nestle's Quick, Flintstones vitamins – a cacophony of colors and slogans and tricks and treats. My mother attempted to feed us these things because the added vitamins were said to be “good for you”. Meanwhile, she munched on cold pizza and guzzled a can of Coca Cola. Surprisingly, we all made it through these tough times.

Enter the Porcine Hero:
At some point, my brothers and I graduated to the Traditional American Breakfast. Let’s review this meal as advertised to adults:
Orange Juice
Toast (or a biscuit)
Coffee (I will concede that tea is becoming more and more popular now that we’ve all forgotten about the goings on in Boston).
Eggs, or some egg-like product
Potatoes
Bacon or sausage (link or patty – you decide, and if you live down south, you are obligated to turn that pork fat into a nice gravy.)
Cereal (this they try to sneak in so we can get some needed fiber)

The Myth Implodes:
Americans don’t have time for all that prep work, or chewing work! We are busy people. We grab an egg, bacon & cheese on a roll (no matter how fake-ass the cheese is), an everything bagel with scallion sour cream, a double chocolate doughnut, a flavored & sugared yogurt, a BLT, whatever we can grab in under 60 seconds. If we do sit down and take our time for that first meal of the day, we do not call it breakfast. We call it Brunch.

Breakfast is a strange meal. Its place in our lives has yet to be defined. We know that we are hungry. And somehow we know that after shoving a bacon, egg & cheese sandwich into our faces and washing it down with a regular coffee we will not feel good. But we STILL do it.

What we need is a New Myth, a new product equally worthy of today's nationalistic mood, a truly American product that we can wave the magic flag over and say "poof!" here's your new All American breakfast item.

Any contenders?

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Posted on 9/20/2005 ( Permanent Link )
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