Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We hear this all the time and, personally, I cannot argue with it.
While during the week it’s easy to opt for a quick meal, like cereals or a sandwich or just a croissant on your way to work, Saturday and Sunday mornings allow for more time to enjoy this meal and try something different.
Below are a few examples of traditional breakfasts from around the world to try out:
1. French
Although you might think of just a croissant and coffee when hearing French breakfast, it is much more than that. Besides your favourite pastry, which can be a croissant or pain au chocolat, the menu includes fresh bread with butter and jam, coffee and possibly fresh fruit juice, most commonly orange.
2. UK
Although there are variants, the main ingredients of a “Full English breakfast” are bacon, eggs, sausages, (the notorious) black pudding, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms and toast, served with tea or coffee.
3. Australia
While and Australian “brekkie” can be quite similar to your usual breakfast, including cereals, yogurt, juice and so on, there is one thing that sets it apart. Along with a cup of tea, a common dish is Vegemite on toast, the famous thick, dark brown Australian spread, made from leftover brewers’ yeast extract with various vegetable and spices.
4. Israel
Shakshuka is commonly eaten is Israel for breakfast, although it can be served during any meal of the day. The dish consists of poached eggs in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, peppers, onion and garlic, commonly spiced with cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper. There is also a Spanish version, called huevos a la flamenca, which includes chorizo and serrano ham. Either way, the dish is big and is best shared between family or friends.
5. Italy
Italy has a lot to offer when it comes to food, from pasta and pizza to tiramisu and panettone or the delicate gianduia chocolates. Breakfast does not disappoint either. Simple and delicious, it consists of coffee, espresso or cappuccino, and a cornetto, a moon shaped pastry, either plain or filled with custard or Nutella.
6. USA
There are many breakfast dishes popular in the US, but the easiest one is probably pancakes. Nothing beats a stack of delicious fluffy pancakes on a Sunday morning, with butter, maple syrup, fruits and some Nutella if you want to be extra naughty.
7. Tunisia
Lablabi is a Tunisian breakfast dish based on chickpeas in a thin garlic and cumin-flavoured broth, served over small pieces of stale crusty bread. Raw or soft-cooked egg is nearly always added to the hot soup mix, along with olive oil, harissa, additional cumin, capers, tuna, Baklouti pepper and sometimes olives, garlic and vinegar or lemon or lime juice. Further garnishes may include cilantro (coriander), parsley and scallions.
8. Ethiopia
The fit-fit is an Ethiopian breakfast dish made by mixing shredded flatbread, either injera (sour fermented pancake-like flatbread made with teff flour) or kitcha (thin unleavened bread, made with wheat flour, water and salt), with spiced clarified butter and berbere (spice mix including chili peppers, coriander, garlic, ginger, Ethiopian holy basil seeds, korarima, rue, ajwain or radhuni, nigella and fenugreek).
9. Jamaica
Ackee and saltfish is the national dish of Jamaica and it is commonly eaten for breakfast. The saltfish (salt cod) is sautéed with boiled ackee (a fruit related to lychee) onions, Scotch bonnet peppers, tomatoes, then seasoned with spices like pepper and paprika. It is usually served with breadfruit, bread dumplings or fried or boiled plantains.
10. The Netherlands
This is for the child in each of us, because, in the Netherlands, breakfast sometimes consists of chocolate sprinkles on bread. Butter or margarine is spread on the bread, then the “hagelslag” (literally meaning chocolate sprinkles) are poured over. You can choose whichever flavour you prefer, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, or they even come in mixed varieties.
