September is Better Breakfast Month, and I adore breakfast - sometimes it's traditional Western breakfasts like eggs, pancakes, cereals, but I also love leftovers for breakfast - sometimes with an egg on top, sometimes cold, sometimes wrapped in a tortilla. And I am always ready to explore breakfast from around the world.
But first, a little history about why there's a Better Breakfast Month at all (and my first rabbit hole). According to the people at National Day Calendar, the program "Eat a Better Breakfast" was encouraged during WWI, partly to increase nutrition and partly to encourage the reduction of wheat and meat which were needed at the front lines in Europe. But the source is not cited and I can't find that reference in documents, but I found some other interesting resources from WWI (check out this collection of resources on Symbaloo):
The United States Food Administration (1917-1920) published several pamphlets to help households use food wisely and increase nutrition.
You can take a look at the whole collection at the Hathi Trust.
United States Food Leaflets 1-20. The United States Department of Agriculture, Food Administration.
During WWII, there was required food rationing and many communities stressed the importance of a "Better Breakfast" to provide nutrition and save precious resources. There were many pamphlets published to encourage a good or better breakfast and General Mills took advantage of this to expand their campaign to get Americans to view their cereals as a crucial part of the Best Breakfast. Read this one from 1944:
Here are a few other fun resources to explore breakfast - past, present and future!
From AFAR magazine, "This is What Breakfast Looks Like Around the World."
Play this Interactive Breakfast Around the World Game from the US Department of Agriculture.
And from Max Miller, one of my favorite YouTube Foodies - "Did Medieval People Eat Breakfast?"
There really is so much more I want to write about breakfast! I am spending most of September exploring my cookbooks for breakfast around the world. It's such a lovely way to learn a little about other people, other times and other cultures.
Join me on my journeys @ #BetterBreakfastMonth!
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