Breakfast around the world - unusual breakfast ideas

Breakfast around the world looks different everywhere.  Every culture has it's idea about 'when' to eat breakfast and 'what' to eat for breakfast.  To the Western palate breakfasts from other places might qualify as unusual breakfast ideas.  In the Western world there is a lot of buzz around breakfast, we have a huge push on 'breakfast being the most important meal of the day' - and that message comes from manufacturers of processed products like cereal, fruit juice and egg producers.  

Breakfast around the World

Breakfast around the world doesn't commonly come out of a box with colorful cartoon characters and shouting 'fortified with x,y and z vitamins.' 

• In France breakfast includes Croissants, Tartines, or toast with jam
• In China breakfast is a variety of steamed buns called bass.  They are filled with ground pork, vegetables (like spinach and eggplant) eggs, or bean paste.  They're popular both in sweet and savory forms.  
• In Japan breakfast might contained grilled fish, rice, miso soup and Japanese picked.  The rice if often rolled in a sheet of nori (dried seaweed) and dipped into soy sauce.  'Natto', pungent fermented soy beans is also often eaten.  
• In Egypt, breakfast is 'fuul'  (cooked and mashed fav beans served either hot or cold) are served in a grainy pita bread.
• In Spain the day is started off with a very light meal and they eat a large midday meal - often a cup of coffee suffices although a pastry is often added.
• In Mexico breakfast can range from a simple cup of coffee to a large “huevos rancheros” (corn tortillas filled with fried eggs and a sauce of chili, tomato & onion). Sweet breads, fruit, toast, granola and yogurt are also popular.
• In Thailand breakfast is 'Chok' - a rice porridge, or an omelet (khai chiao) with white rice, often eaten with a chili sauce and slices of cucumber. Another favorite is khao tom - a rice soup, usually with pork, chicken, fish or shrimp.
• In India breakfast might include spiced potatoes, a type of flatbread called roti, dosas  which are thin crepes made of lentils or idlis (steamed rice-dough pancakes).  
• In Chile - where only a very small breakfast is eaten as they eat 4 times a day - it's usually toast with very sweet tea or coffee with milk.
• Russians also usually settle for a very small breakfast, cottage cheese, yoghurt, a sandwich with tea or coffee.

"Eat breakfast like a King..." - it's associated with something fairly substantial.  Many restaurants in America know their clientele love breakfast and even serve it all day.

In America, this means a combination of anything from packaged prepared foods such as cereal, pop-tarts, muffins, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, egg and bacon with toast (with butter and jam) along with tea, coffee or orange juice, fruit and yoghurt.

What becomes immediately obvious when you consider different breakfasts from around the world, is that many cultures don't have the cultural belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Many have very small breakfasts but a larger midday meal.  And indeed the dictionary merely defines breakfast as the first meal of the day - it doesn't dictate when, how much or what has to be eaten.

Share your favorite breakfast ideas here?  Breakfasts from your childhood, when you're doing different activities, from your travels...and feel free to share your recipes as well.  

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