We were one of those houses with Costco variety packs of snacks, enough to make friends with stricter parents jealous. Before school, I picked which cereal to eat out of my ten options. Rice Krispies or Apple Jacks? Obviously Rice Krispies. To this day, I’ve never met anyone who ate cereal the way I ate cereal: warm milk with the milk poured in first. I survived this preposterous breakfast habit for years before waking up the morning after a sleepover to witness my friend’s mom pour cold milk over Cheerios, a radical contrast to my mother’s warm soggy cereal with the milk poured first. Needless to say, my cereal philosophy permanently changed.
I enjoyed cereal at the time, but my breakfasts got a major upgrade whenever my family visited India every few years. Even when I craved nothing more than Lucky Charms and pancakes, I was forced to adjust to crisp rotis with bhindi (okra) and aloo (potatoes). I ate parathas stuffed with paneer and finely chopped bell peppers, aloo parathas, and summer yellow khandvi from street vendors. When I wanted fruit, I received a platter of colors: jamun, chikoo, lychees, and good papayas.
I learned to cook through learning to make classic breakfast foods. I had a silly little tradition of trying a new pancake recipe every Sunday (and only Sunday), from spinach banana pancakes to carrot cake pancakes. Breakfast was easy, as I didn’t really need to understand flavors or techniques. Mix together pancake batter, flip them, and call it cooking? Cool. I could do that. I make fun of myself now, but we all start somewhere. I just happened to start at the peak of wellness foodstagram: smoothies, yogurt, avocado toast, high-protein pancakes/waffles/you-name-it, and oatmeal.
Regardless of how much people rave about oatmeal, the internet doesn’t need more stovetop rolled oats topped with bananas, granola, and almond butter. The same goes for most smoothies. If I hear one more person preach about their kale smoothie tasting like a milkshake…I mean, maybe the smoothie is on Erewhon’s level, not that I’d know what that means. Maybe it sneaks in zucchini and cauliflower, which can be convenient for anyone trying to eat more vegetables. Some of these recipes may be unique or come with creative editing, words, or visuals, but it’s a problem when we end up with heaps of the same thing over and over again, futilely making noise without a purpose.
Of course, some popular breakfast items are mainstream because they taste pretty good and they’re convenient, which are relevant considerations. Overnight oats remain faithful when I leave my apartment at an early hour and avocado toast with a sprinkle of chaat masala satisfies my cravings for the savory. But by fixating on these breakfast staples on social media and in real life, do we limit our ability to acknowledge and try other options?
The culture surrounding breakfast is confusing. We grow up hearing that it’s the most important meal of the day, providing energy and boosting metabolism, but we also hear that it’s the least important meal of the day. As with most things, it’s probably personal. I neglected breakfast last year, which turned out to be a bad idea because sometimes the unhealthiest thing you can do for yourself is learn more about “health.” I’ll spare you the details, but it unsurprisingly started with a podcast episode about intermittent fasting, and no, the episode did not acknowledge its effects on different people or on hormones. Anyways, I’ve thankfully exited my calculating-the-fasting-window era. It wasn’t very fun. With breakfast, more so than other meals, there is an emphasis on starting your day with the “right” nutrients and losing little time in the process. That may be why smoothies get the attention they do and why adding a scoop of protein powder to any recipe has become trendy. That’s one approach to breakfast, but it can be nutrient-dense AND fun. Or just fun. That’s fine too.
There is something deeply satisfying about starting the day with food I hold close to my heart. I came across this conversation about decolonizing our food culture on Real Food Real Stories:
“Home and lineage, they tell us, can be found by following the threads of what nourishes us. And by nurturing a deeper relationship with food, which recognizes food as teacher [and] not just as “fuel,” we can weave ourselves back into the fabric of reciprocity and belonging…every day, we make breakfast; every day we make lunch and dinner. And so, what are the ways in which I can continue to renew those original agreements that my ancestors made a long time ago, in those small everyday ways?”
Reading this reminded me that it’s not silly to put thought and care into breakfast, assuming that you have enough time that it isn’t stressful. It can be meaningful and rejuvenating, even if society at-large seems to agree that breakfast is about maximizing the nutrients we can fit in with limited time (the solution is a high-speed blender, they say). When I was home in December, my mother made me upma, poha, and uttapam. I was also trying to eat more non-American breakfasts in general: chilaquiles, sweet potato latkes, twists on toast. My way back to breakfast started with a desire to learn to make more Indian breakfasts, as I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed them on weekends.
You may be thinking, “But let’s be real, who has the time and energy?” That’s a fair point. Like I said, easy breakfasts that don’t require much thought have their place. But maybe unfamiliar breakfasts become easy once we are more familiar with making them. I’m not going to be rolling out aloo parathas on a weekday morning any time soon, but maybe I can make a bunch of them over the weekend and heat them up whenever I’m in the mood for golden parathas stuffed with spiced silky potatoes. And when experimenting with breakfast isn’t a priority, well, that’s what the oats and smoothies are for.
what to eat when I want something fun and savory:
Breakfast burritos or tacos with leftover beans, avocado, vegetables, and salsas
Some form of sweet potatoes
A bagel sandwich
Miso balsamic mushrooms and leeks on toast (here is a similar recipe)
Kimchi avocado toast
A dip on toast: hummus, tofu ricotta, baba ganoush, tomato chutney, etc. + a veggie (tomatoes, cucumbers, edamame, peas, zucchini, mushrooms, pickled onions)
Green peas mashed with avocado, pesto, and an herb…on toast (I eat a lot of toast)
A panzanella
Last night’s leftovers ;)
what to eat when I want a savory Indian breakfast:
Here is a peak into the Indian breakfast series I’m working on right now! I’ll update this post with links as I post the recipes:
sattu paratha
cabbage besan fritters
poha
upma
moong dal cheela
mini spice rack
eating
Rice paper sushi rolls, bathua (a North Indian leafy green) masala lachha parathas, tomato red bell pepper chutney, aloo tikki chaat, first panzanella of the season, and for breakfast, dhokla and blueberries (separately, not together).
drinking
Sometimes I just want chocolate milk so I blend cacao, dates, cinnamon, sea salt, almond butter, peanut butter, and water for a thick and creamy chocolate milk. Also strawberry matcha and mint matcha!
reading
Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice
by Rupa Marya and Raj Patel
listening
A couple podcasts I enjoyed:
My Industry is Failing: Writing Edition with Jennifer Romolini (Work Appropriate)
Is creativity dead? (Anything Goes)
Also! Spice Club is on Substack Notes!
Notes is a new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I’ve never been a Twitter person and feeling constantly connected stresses me out, but this seems to be a more intimate space. Expect nothing consistent! Just vibes!
Now you know what I eat for breakfast so be cool, tell me what you like to eat for breakfast:
GOOD papayas = life-changing!
Love a savory breakfast, thanks for adding more options to my rotation! Bagel sandwich or English muffins with a homemade just egg patty are popular in my current rotation.