Growing up everyone was always told that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”. I always believed that, which made an early morning breakfast one of my most enjoyable parts of the day. I loved the feeling of sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee and a delectable breakfast as I checked my e-mail or watched the news. In my opinion this was how everyone should start the day.
It was also one of the most important meals for my family, on Sundays. Every Sunday morning my father would be the first one awake and he would cook breakfast for the rest of my family. I can still remember waking up to the smell of hot coffee brewing and smoky bacon frying on the stove. Some days he would make pancakes, on others eggs. There was always a breakfast meat of some kind, usually crispy bacon perfectly cooked, or sausages that were full of flavor. If someone was in a hurry to go somewhere, he would make them a breakfast sandwich using an English muffin or a bagel. On other mornings he would make French toast or waffles. Or if I was really lucky he would take a little extra time and make cream chipped beef from scratch. This was a personal favorite of mine and in my opinion one of the best breakfast dishes there is. To make it you start by making a simple roux using a few tablespoons of butter and an equal amount of flour. Then you add salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and
milk to create the sauce. Finally the key ingredient is added, dried shredded beef. This is best served over toast or even better, biscuits. Chipped beef is an acquired taste so not everyone may like it. However it was always a meal that my father and I enjoyed together. No matter what he made it was always a good meal and the whole family was present in the kitchen during the cooking process. We would all sit at the counter and talk while he prepared a meal for us all to share. Above all Sunday breakfast was about more than just the savory and mouth-watering dishes that were being served, it was being together and enjoying a meal with my family that made it truly special.Breakfast is also important because it provides you with the fuel you need for the rest of the day. During the week I would have to get up early to drive myself to school at seven in the morning. When classes started that early I needed something to provide me with the energy needed to make it through a long morning of classes. One of my preferred weekday breakfasts was a bagel and cream cheese. There was nothing better than the hot crunchy toasted bagel with the smooth creamy spread of cream cheese on top. It was even better when I had specialty cream cheese from the local store that was mixed with chives or other vegetables. They would add a sharp bite of flavor that accented the cream cheese and added another dimension to the flavor. To go with it I would always have a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice or apple juice. This was always the perfect way to begin the morning. Or another option was always browsing the fridge for leftovers from the night before. Sometimes the best thing for breakfast was a piece of lasagna my mother had made for dinner last night, or a slice of cold pizza. Whatever I ate, unlike the weekend when breakfast was a family affair, weekdays I had all to myself. It would give me a chance to relax on my own and think about what needed to be done that day as well as take care of any work left over from the night before.
When I moved away from home to college my morning routine changed a little bit. No longer did I wake up on Sundays greeted by the smells and sounds of a family member preparing the morning’s meal. Instead I had to be out of bed before the sun rose three days a week to report for physical training (PT) with the Army ROTC. However this was not necessarily a bad thing. After PT a few of the other cadets and me would all go to the dining hall together for breakfast. The bland food of the dining hall tasted much better because of the appetite one develops during a PT session filled with push-ups, running, and sit-ups. There was nothing more nourishing after a three mile run than a tall glass of chocolate milk and a plate full of pancakes. The sense of camaraderie this helped to build was even more important than the food. Enjoying a meal with my fellow cadets after a morning spent working out together helped to build friendships and brought us all together. It was much easier to get to know them talking across a table, rather than standing in formation next to them. Sharing a meal is one of the most effective ways to get to know someone, and this early morning banquet helped us get to know each other.
Overall I think that breakfast is important because it is one of the first things many people do when they start their days. It sets a precedent for how the rest of the day is going to go. If you enjoy a hearty, fulfilling breakfast, then you are already starting the day on a positive note. You know that you will have the energy you need for the rest of the day. Beyond the purely nutritional level, breakfast can be about who you're eating with rather than what you're eating. A meal shared with friends or family can be far more rewarding that one eaten in solitude. In my opinion that is why I truly believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
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