Breakfast foods: savory or sweet?

[JAZ]

Over here, people are discussing the relative merits of French toast, waffles and pancakes. Me? I'm just not a fan of any of them.

In many cuisines, savory food for breakfast is pretty common. Americans might be alone in their predilection for sweet foods at breakfast. Sweet cereals, pastries, pancakes and all the rest seem uniquely American, or am I wrong?

I prefer savory breakfast foods. Give me eggs, pork products, toast, potatoes. I sometimes like a touch of sweetness -- jam on my toast, for instance, if I have bacon or cheese and eggs -- but overall, I'll skip the sweets. I don't think I've ever ordered pancakes or waffles at a restaurant, for instance. I'm an omelet kind of person, or leftover pizza. (I once ordered a patty melt at 9am.)

So, what do you prefer for your breakfast? Sweets? Savory foods? Both? Does it depend on when you're eating, or who's cooking?

[filipino pride]

I'd prefer savory breakfast food. It's more like a wake up call for my palette, but I eat pancakes for breakfast as well although very seldom. Sweet food early in the morning when I wake up is just too much.

[Kim Shook]

I'm an admitted glutton. I want both. Give me an order of eggs and bacon and grits and biscuits...and throw in a short stack...or a big gloppy cinnamon roll. I just like the contrast of going back and forth between the salty bacon and sweet pancakes. But don't put them on the same plate !! Eggs mixed with pancake syrup grosses me out. I do, however, put syrup on my sausages and I love brown sugar bacon.

[Jenni]

I need savoury in the morning, preferably spicy. Give me idli sambar, upma, or even just a bowl of dal and some roti. I hold back on the garlic if I have college though!

[Darienne]

Interestingly enough, I grew up in a home where French toast was salted, not sweetened. To this day, my French toast calls for salt...while the rest of my family does syrup.

[Tri2Cook]

I prefer savory in the morning. As I mentioned in the other thread, I love waffles... but I'd really rather have them for lunch or dinner than breakfast. I find with a sweet breakfast that a relatively short time later my energy takes a dive and I feel really hungry again even though I know I'm not. That never happens with non-sweet breakfasts or from eating the sweet stuff later in the day.

[Jenni]

Just out of interest, for the people who prefer savoury breakfasts, do you find that in general you prefer savoury foods? For me, sweet foods are a nice little extra if I feel like it, but most of the time I would rather have something savoury.

[baroness]

I find with a sweet breakfast that a relatively short time later my energy takes a dive and I feel really hungry again even though I know I'm not. That never happens with non-sweet breakfasts or from eating the sweet stuff later in the day.

Sweets - other than unadulterated fruit - are not a good breakfast/brunch choice for me. They wake up my sweet tooth and do not have staying power until the next mealtime.

Jenni - overall, I like both savory and sweet foods, FWIW.

[Anna N]

Overall savoury over sweet but especially in the morning.

[Chris Amirault]

Overall savory, and so at breakfast. When I think of my favorite breakfasts, they are things like perfect egg sandwiches (cheese, fried egg, bacon, dark English muffin), pho, or really good corned beef hash.

When I was thinking about my response to this topic, I realized that my most memorable set of breakfasts occured in Hua Hin and Chiang Mai, Thailand, with fried eggs, rice, and a side dish of some sort:

The French toast I made this morning was great, and I had two pieces myself. Those two dishes? I could eat thirty of each.

[feedmec00kies]

I'm more of a savory person than sweet. I eat more sweet food than I used to, I think, but I tend to crave savory food when I'm hungry. I also grew up with salty french toast, so I'll eat it both ways, depending on my mood. Sweet things tend to aggravate my stomach more, seemingly as a result of GERD. I do love pancakes, though, but not as an every morning thing.

Actually, this is a big thing for me. I'll eat cereal for breakfast, but I'd prefer to eat something savory instead. However, during weekdays I eat breakfast at work and have no energy in the mornings to prepare something at home. There aren't too many savory ready-to-eat breakfast options that I know about. I could cook eggs for breakfast at the office (we have a full kitchen), but it's not a compelling option because it takes more time than pouring cereal and milk into a mug and washing everything afterwards. I could start preparing breakfast the night before, but I haven't even been good about even bringing lunch to work. I think I just need to start pushing myself to prepare something ahead of time.

[Darienne]

I also grew up with salty french toast, so I'll eat it both ways, depending on my mood.

That makes two of us who grew up eating salted French toast. I grew up in Montreal, PQ, and the salt came from my Mother who grew up in a Polish Jewish home. Is it an ethnic, religious, political thing? Never met anyone else who ever ate salted French toast.

My favorite breakfast USED to be cottage cheese and sour cream over pumpernickel chunks, topped with salt and pepper. I haven't seen real pumpernickel for decades and the commercial sour cream leaves a lot to be desired now.

[onrushpam]

A friend turned me on to what has become my favorite breakfast...

Buckwheat pancakes made w/out sugar, over-easy eggs, milk gravy made with a bit of bacon fat and a piece of two of bacon crumbled in it. I only eat this once or twice a year, but would eat it every weekend if I could!

[prasantrin]

In many cuisines, savory food for breakfast is pretty common. Americans might be alone in their predilection for sweet foods at breakfast. Sweet cereals, pastries, pancakes and all the rest seem uniquely American, or am I wrong?

Canadians eat sweet stuff for breakfast, too.

As do the French, though pain au chocolat or some French bread with jam is more common than sugar-laden cereal.

I eat anything for breakfast--sweet, savoury. I have no preference for one over the other. What I eat just depends on my mood.

[suzilightning]

not really sweet but in season now cottage cheese or plain greek yoghurt with fruit mixed in. in the colder months i would rather have a hamburger or leftover stew or pasta dish than anything sweet. i do love a good breakfast of dry scrambled eggs, home fries and corned beef hash with tomato. johnnybird prefers french toast with maple syrup and blueberries, toast with toast dope, cream of rice with maple syrup. though he does like some eggy potatoes (baked potatoes, eggs and some sort of meat - bacon or ham)

[feedmec00kies]

That makes two of us who grew up eating salted French toast. I grew up in Montreal, PQ, and the salt came from my Mother who grew up in a Polish Jewish home. Is it an ethnic, religious, political thing? Never met anyone else who ever ate salted French toast.

Well, my father, who was the french toast maker when I was growing up, is Jewish and was born in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine). The Wikipedia entry suggests that several cultures customarily prepare such egg-soaked bread dishes with salt and pepper instead.

[Chris Amirault]

It seems like a great idea to me. Were there any other ingredients besides bread, egg, salt, and pepper?

[Darienne]

Feedmec00kies,

Thank you so much for sending me off to Wikipedia. Who knew? Wonderful stuff....well, except for the part about putting ketchup on French toast.

Edited October 12, 2009 by Darienne (log)

[nakji]

In many cuisines, savory food for breakfast is pretty common. Americans might be alone in their predilection for sweet foods at breakfast. Sweet cereals, pastries, pancakes and all the rest seem uniquely American, or am I wrong?

Italians eat sweets for breakfast, too, don't they? Biscuits and the like? That seems like an excellent thing to get away with if you can.

I like sweet and salty equally, but savoury tends to set me up better for the day. A breakfast of blueberry muffins leaves me starving by ten. Sweet breakfasts like bread-type things - muffins, pastry, boxed cereal - seem to all win in the prep-time arena, though, they're faster compared to items like a fry-up, pho or congee. You need real infrastructure in the morning to get a bowl of congee or pho first thing.

I wish I had some more fast savoury options - the only thing that comes to mind is an omelette or a fried egg. Or buttered toast. There are some dumpling places on my street, but I'm never organized to get in the queue early enough.

I've been making my own granola, which I pack with nuts- that helps on the protein front. It's also fast, and portable if I'm running late.

[Darienne]

I wish I had some more fast savoury options - the only thing that comes to mind is an omelette or a fried egg. Or buttered toast. There are some dumpling places on my street, but I'm never organized to get in the queue early enough.

Grilled cheese sandwiches are pretty fast.

And things which you have made beforehand and have only to reheat can be fairly fast. I have a couple of recipes for blintz souffles which can be made at night, refrigerated and then baked in the morning...or made the night before and reheated. A blintz souffle is a fraction the amount of prep time compared to actual blintzes.

[maggiethecat]

I need serious protein in the morning or my metabolism crashes by 10:00 am. When I had a place in the workplace my breakfasts horrified and grossed out my co-workers: "Gack! You're eating a chicken leg? A meatloaf sandwich?" They'd avert their eyes and have another Krispy Kreme.

That said, I love the weekend breakfast trilogy of pancakes, french toast and waffles with the reqiured side of bacon.

[heidih]

I am an overall savory person, and breakfast is savory 99% or more of the time. This week the quick breakfast is butternut squash and watercress soup with tofu for protein. Pho is a weekend favorite. The combination of eggs, cured meat, and good bread with tomatoes is also a winner for me. I just got end of season great tomatoes from a neighbor, and am playing with baking bread (dough resting in fridge) for the first time in years, so that will be on the menu when I have a leisurely morning.

[snowangel]

While the choice of french toast, waffles and pancakes leads me to waffles, my very favorite breakfast is leftover Thai Curry over rice. Or smoked butt. My fav is savory. If it has to be sweet, it had better be tart!

[hsm]

I'm sweet and savory. I salt my matzo brei (it's Passover French toast!) but then put strawberry jam on the side. Most of the time, oatmeal gets some maple syrup and bananas on top, but occasionally a squirt of Sriracha does the trick (thank you, somebody, who posted that idea in another thread awhile back). English muffins require jam. But bagels with a schmear of smoked salmon cream cheese are currently the house favorite. Unless I'm going out for breakfast/brunch, in which case, I'd pass right by the pancake house and head for dim sum!

[prasantrin]

I need serious protein in the morning or my metabolism crashes by 10:00 am. When I had a place in the workplace my breakfasts horrified and grossed out my co-workers: "Gack! You're eating a chicken leg? A meatloaf sandwich?" They'd avert their eyes and have another Krispy Kreme.

I don't understand the western aversion to eating that kind of stuff in the morning. When I was in elementary and junior high school, I'd eat stuff like leftover pork chops for breakfast, and my friends would all be aghast if I told them what I ate.

I remember once having pork chops and french fries for lunch, and a friend said, "You had that for lunch?" as though it were the most disgusting idea ever (and it was generally one of her favourite meals, but for dinner only).

The mention of grilled cheese for breakfast reminds me of my BIL. In my family, grilled cheese sandwiches were our Sunday morning treats. When my sister got married, we were all staying at their house and my mother made grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast. My mother asked my BIL if he wanted one, and he said, "No, grilled cheese is for lunch. I don't eat them for breakfast. I eat cereal for breakfast." We were all annoyed (I'm not sure why, it wasn't that big a deal) and we expressed our annoyance, and finally he picked up half a sandwich, took a bite, and said, "There, I ate it! Are you satisfied!?!??!"

Now he eats anything anytime. You can't have stupid food rules in my family.