The idea, not just of healthy, but of breakfast as a whole is something which is touted time and time again as an important aspect of our daily lives. As a tradition, it is one that is deeply rooted in our human history. Breakfast is originally the first meal of the day, the one that is taken at sunrise and breaks the fast.
Depending on the time and culture, the menu and name have varied. From the 19th century onwards, the name "breakfast" supplanted that of "lunch" in certain regions of Europe, especially the French speaking regions. The ritual of the first meal of the day, under the latter name, has been kept roughly in Belgium, Quebec, New Brunswick and Switzerland.
Among the Romans, breakfast was called jentaculum, but Sextus Pompeius Festus indicated that it was also called prandiculum, a diminutive of prandium, the lunch, almost identical in composition, which makes it possible to draw an analogy with the later customs of the "first" and "second" lunches, these meals simply allowing for basic sustenance with the main meal waiting for the evening, this was the one that was most important.
A light and frugal meal, lunch is usually composed of wine and dry bread, which had a reputation, taken to lighten and strengthen the voice, or wine to which cheese, milk, fruit were combined.
In the Moretum, a gastronomic poem attributed to Virgil, a peasant's lunch is described in detail: molding wheat to obtain flour, screening it, adding hot water and salt to form the dough by kneading, shaping into a patty and putting under ember-covered tiles. The cooking time makes it possible to prepare an accompaniment based on salted cheese, in the absence of slices of salted pork that the man does not possess. He takes four twigs, parsley, street and coriander from his garden and cleans them. In a mortar, he stacks garlic heads with salt, cheese and herbs, huddling with milk. Then adds oil and vinegar and, from the well-kneaded whole, forms a ball and eats with the bread just out of the oven. Thankfully our breakfasts can be just as healthy and faster.
The consumption of wine, when flavored with plants known for their medicinal properties, gives another name to the meal: silatum. Lunch was only permitted for children and old men; for adults, it was considered evidence of intemperance. At the height of the empire, breakfast consisted only of a glass of hastily swallowed water.
Sometimes children ate pastries sold early by pastry chefs.
When it comes to food options there are so many that I could introduce you to. But one reason why we tend to skip breakfast is because it feels time consuming to prepare and we are often the most rushed first thing in the morning. Imagination is everything when it comes to preparing for a good start to the day. For those of us who would rather not gulp down a glass of orange juice you can simply take a glass of water with a slice of lemon (preferably organic) as a healthy alternative!
And for breakfast, here are the ingredients:
- Organic oatmeal (or dried fruit, chocolate chips…)
- Plant milk (almond, hazelnut, soy, oats…)
- Fresh fruit (kiwis, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, apples, pears…)
- You can add more dried fruits, almonds, nuts, roasted coconut…
Preparation: (To be done the day before)
- Mix your oatmeal, dried fruit or whatever you've chosen and add the milk so it's well soaked. All you have to do put it in the fridge.
The next day, if you have a little time, you can incorporate pieces of fresh fruit and you're done! It's super fast and efficient! During the night, the milk had time to make the oatmeal much softer and much less dry.
You don't have to, you've already done it the day before and you just have to eat!
Now who has an excuse to not eat in the morning?