Breakfast
Thursday, 19 March 2009 by Dr Maytel
So mostly we're all about proving our culinary bravado. People these days, myself included, like to brag about what they will eat...me anything except frog. Hock, anything except badly cooked offal, which doesn't really appeal to me either.
But as Phil mentioned a while back on Phnomenon and this post on Delicious Coma argues, we are most conservative at breakfast. Delicious Coma mentions how confronting oatmeal can be to foreigners, Phil had an amusing post a while back on grapenuts. I've heard stories of Cambodian distaste for hummous. All these foods seem to fit into a similar category, bland and grainy. Which sums up most week-a-day Western breakfasts.
You don't want to be challenged in the morning. Well I don't. I'm a simple half-cast (or double, as someone was telling me is the term in Latin America these days)....I like toast, muesli and congee when its available. In the weekends I'll venture eggs or pancakes or other anglo-breakfast fare. I'm into the idea of English kippers for breakfast. I don't know why. When doing my research in the provinces of Cambodia, I could never even stare down a plate of pork and rice or even those soupy breakfast noodles. Baguette, maybe an omelette, and when available a dough stick, which is called patongo in Thailand and I can't remember what they were called in Cambodia now.... and coffee. That was me, that was it. I asked for borbor sor (congee) a couple of times but it was always a 30 minute wait.
Reading the Delicious Coma post, made me realise that my breakfast capabilities can definitely extend to warm soy milk, more fried dough a steamed pork bun. That appeals, that does not challenge me. I find that idea instantly comforting....I wants to go there. Badly.
So now can anyone tell me where I can get a mainland Chinese breakfast in Canberra?
But as Phil mentioned a while back on Phnomenon and this post on Delicious Coma argues, we are most conservative at breakfast. Delicious Coma mentions how confronting oatmeal can be to foreigners, Phil had an amusing post a while back on grapenuts. I've heard stories of Cambodian distaste for hummous. All these foods seem to fit into a similar category, bland and grainy. Which sums up most week-a-day Western breakfasts.
You don't want to be challenged in the morning. Well I don't. I'm a simple half-cast (or double, as someone was telling me is the term in Latin America these days)....I like toast, muesli and congee when its available. In the weekends I'll venture eggs or pancakes or other anglo-breakfast fare. I'm into the idea of English kippers for breakfast. I don't know why. When doing my research in the provinces of Cambodia, I could never even stare down a plate of pork and rice or even those soupy breakfast noodles. Baguette, maybe an omelette, and when available a dough stick, which is called patongo in Thailand and I can't remember what they were called in Cambodia now.... and coffee. That was me, that was it. I asked for borbor sor (congee) a couple of times but it was always a 30 minute wait.
Reading the Delicious Coma post, made me realise that my breakfast capabilities can definitely extend to warm soy milk, more fried dough a steamed pork bun. That appeals, that does not challenge me. I find that idea instantly comforting....I wants to go there. Badly.
So now can anyone tell me where I can get a mainland Chinese breakfast in Canberra?
since your spiritual culinary home is Japan, maybe a breakfast of warm rice with mixed beans or barley in it (for added fibre), sprinkled with sesame seeds, with a bowl of miso soup with daikon in it on the side, could also be in the comforting & beige category?
there was a column by Mark Bittman recently about the US breakfast palate, and how he had an epiphany that if we eat left over pizza for breakfast, why not other savoury dinner type foods for breakfast. he reckons he lost weight since he started having soy and scallions with his porridge, and other mushy grains done up savoury, like polenta with trimmings for brekkie.
living in Germany, I still find the idea of paté for breakfast a bit hard, but kids seem to love it on their warm sourdough rolls