To Breakfast & Beyond

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Undoubtedly the best part of the morning, the pinnacle of a reason to wake up, and the perfect way to start your day – is breakfast. The eager stomach drives the routines of many people, and the morning meal has become a staple in the typical modern day. But when did breakfast actually begin? What did people eat before cereal and avo toast? Can we even imagine a time when our mornings weren’t centred around the comforting brands of Kelloggs, Quaker Oats, or even Vegemite?

Historians and dieticians alike have been intrigued by the breakfast dilemma, morphing from a traditionally religious event where families would ‘break’ their ‘fast’, to a health phenomena promoted within our age of advertisement as ‘the most important meal of the day!’ Today, what and when we eat can evidently be seen to reflect our lifestyle, health, and behavioural patterns, thus can also exist as an indicator of socio-economic inequality.

Let’s explore: the history of breakfast

Through the Middle Ages, mealtimes were oriented around a moral and religious schedule where eating early was almost sinful, and was considered a necessity only for the working poor who needed to fuel their labour (and thus survival). The Age of Exploration (the growth of trade networks from the 15th century) brought forwards the socially appropriate time for breaking one’s fast – in addition to countless other globalising effects – as wealthy Europeans grew to favour the exotic and delectable liquids of trade, such as teas, coffees and chocolate. Megan Garber’s The Most Contentious Meal of The Day explores this social transition, highlighting that even the Catholic Church changed its rules to align with popular demand, declaring in 1662 that ‘liquid doesn’t break the fast’, thus enabling a loophole to both religious requirements and social stigmas.

“the morning meal has long been a source of medical confusion, moral frustration, and political anxiety.”

The Most Contentious Meal of the Day by Megan Garber. The Atlantic

By the late 17th century this early snack had soon developed into a heavy meal comprising the previous night’s leftovers, as breakfast had become normalised within the timeframes of industrialisation. However breakfast was still a challenge to those without sufficient time to cook and a burden to those expected to cook it, as the Industrial Revolution re-enforced time constraints, wealth gaps, and gender roles (alongside its numerous other societal effects). It within this context, on the wave of globalisation, industrialisation, and consumerism, that the introduction of cereal again revamped breakfast in the late 19th century.

Kelloggs: the birth and development

While watching an episode of The Food That Built America as a spontaneous airplane choice, I was dumbstruck when it began to recount the trials and errors of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his ‘granola’, originally intended as a medicinal remedy to the uneasy stomachs of his patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium (Battle Creek, Michigan, USA) in the late 1870s. Filled with oddities and erratic medicinal ‘treatments’, Dr. Kellogg’s sanitarium was a stomping ground for innovative wellness ‘cures’, one result of which was the birth of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes in 1906, destined to become one of the most prominent and lucrative breakfast businesses in the USA and beyond.

The story is surprisingly interesting, as History.com‘s article outlines how the development of Dr. Kellogg’s promising culinary experiment was undermined by a familial dispute. It was actually his brother Will who recognised the potential of these oven-baked grains as a capitalist jackpot, mixing them with milk and advertising them as the easily digestible, healthy and convenient way to start the day. Howard Markel’s The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek delves deeper into this brotherly feud as well as the moral and ethical discrepancies surrounding the Kelloggs creations (including ulterior racial, religious, and sexual motives…).

Let’s think about: inequality

Its interesting to consider how breakfast itself can provide a lens into the household dynamics, economic stability, or even emotional wellbeing of families – often depicted as an indicator of one’s busy schedule, or valued as a time of bonding. Personally, my fondness for breakfast stems from its association with my family, even when I’m not with them, and even if most mornings before school I was barely conscious to food. Yet breakfast can remain a hidden landmark of struggle or challenge, as countless health campaigns have highlighted the correlation between breakfast and success, or more importantly the LACK of access to breakfast and its hindering effects on education, attention, and motivation (such as Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! school campaign or this NYT article). Does this mean that the initial breakfast wealth divide still continues?

Let’s discuss: advertisement & consumerism

Often in times of war, hardship, and depression (or worldwide pandemic..) it is packaged and convenient food items which come to the forefront as symbols of resilience and reliability (eg COVID’s ‘panic buying’). Within Australia, our Anzac Biscuit was created from limited ingredients and sparse sources of sweetness, having since become an iconic reminder and tradition. Similarly, in Hawaii the World War II solution of ‘ham in a can’ – aka Spam – has since become a household staple and has even been incorporated into some national dishes. Hence the familiar brands of our childhood – such as Kelloggs – are understandably ingrained into our memory as their convenience and presence have morphed and shaped alongside our own historical and emotional stories. However this is arguably the result of living in an age where brands matter more than the food inside it. People tend to make purchases based on familiarity, whether it be what their parents bought or what we see on tv, we develop a product loyalty to such an extent that some even refuse to buy other brands!

This stems from consumerism as a whole (thats what it’s designed to do…), yet this advertising – from its beginning – continues to target and reflect societal norms, values, thus also stereotypes. For example, looking closer at this 1948 Kelloggs advertisement, we can see its clear assumption of women as the bearers of the breakfast responsibility. Obviously such stereotypes are being increasingly challenged, but this shows a glimpse into the social manipulation of advertisements, branding, and consumerism, as well as the power of health trends and the desire for social acceptance. Could it be that the breakfast concept originally birthed by social demand might now operate in reverse as a capitalist invention…?

Kelloggs Corn Flakes advertisement in a 1948 edition of Australian Women’s Weekly. Flickr

Evidently, moving from a religious no-no to a heralded health necessity, the historical development of breakfast as a social concept can be traced alongside the wealth and lifestyle gaps in our societies, and can still underline a range of serious issues beyond the infamous sweet/savory breakfast debate (which I’ll admit I am often victim to…). Moving beyond cereal, I hope that your minds feel a little bit more stimulated by the intricacies of breakfast, its modern transformation, and its symbolic and statistical importance. Perhaps next time you go to brunch you might consider the social undertones of your waffles, avo toast, and coffee (or mimosa!).

About Post Author

tatecrofts

A uni student with lots of time, ideas, passion for learning, and energy for change

tate.crofts14@gmail.com

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