I’m not a picky eater though I probably could benefit physically from being picky once in a while, but I digress.
Being naturally muscular, my body tends to gravitate towards protein in all forms. I grew up on large tomato-onion omelettes spiced with curry powder, salt, thyme, red pepper, and white pepper and breakfast remains my favorite meal. Specifically protein loaded breakfasts filled with eggs (any type), meats (sausage, bacon, ham), veggies (mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans), and the occasional slice of toast that wanders onto my plate via my husband’s.
In short, full English breakfasts. If I could eat them every day without health repercussions, I would.
So while I do make healthier substitutions -> spinach mushroom omelettes instead of scrambled eggs made with real butter and full milk, or shriveled odd-colored turkey sausages instead of juicy fat pork sausages -> I do strive to prepare protein-loaded breakfasts almost every day.
One of the first things I battled upon moving to Sweden was the concept of a “Swedish” breakfast – a carbohydrate/dairy overloaded smörgåsbord of whatever you found.
Unlike an English breakfast where each item is carefully prepared with purpose, a Swedish breakfast seems like a hodge-podge of leftovers you find in your fridge.
– I’ve got a boiled egg here…What can I eat it with? Aha! Caviar. And so you find egg halves with squirts of caviar squeezed from a tube on them on breakfast tables across Sweden.
– Hmm, I’ve got this bowl of cereal but forgot to pick up milk….Haa! There’s some leftover yoghurt. And so you eat cereal filled with yoghurt.
– You find two last slices of bread and you toast them. Adding butter just isn’t enough. You need to also add orange marmalade as well as a slice of cheese you find in the fridge.
– For the other slice of bread, you add some cheese, a few slices of cucumber, and call it a sandwich.
Breakfast is super minimalist and non fussy here.
@British food lover – Yes, the Swedish version is healthier, but mehn, I love me some protein-loaded breakfasts 🙂
I agree with you in your breakfast preferences. There is nothing better than some scrambled eggs with ham and cheese baked together and a slice of toast with butter in the morning. Wish my stomach was stronger and could have such tasty protein bombs more often…
However, the Swedish version definitely looks healthier. 😛
@Germaine – It’s so true.
@Felicia – Sounds like a yummy breakfast.
@Amanda – Absolutely. Everyone has their own breakfast style. Many people skip it all together. I really like a large breakfast and par things down the rest of the day.
@Filip – That’s A-okay!
@Davis – Wow. I wish I could say the same. Even if I spend most of my travels walking around and getting tons of outdoor exercise, I still come back glowingly filled with local food 🙂
@Nicole – Haha. I’m definitely not complaining. It’s just one of those oddities I’ve noticed. Eggs + Meat = Breakfast to me.
Man, I can’t get down with the Scandinavian or German brekkie (I live in Germany my boyfriend is Danish, I’m American) I will eat their version of breakfast but sometimes I want eggs and bacon and toast. This is breakfast. I can’t imagine eating lunch meat before noon. I swear I will never fit in 🙂
An odd thing about breakfast and travel is that when I am overseas I eat a very simple coffee-and-toast breakfast and then often nothing else until evening. If I am walking across an island I may have an orange and a chocolate bar, but no proper meal until supper.
I lose a pleasing amount of weight when I travel and come home in glowing good health.
I had a breakfast as you describe one morning in the Amana Colony in Iowa. I was seated and the motherly waitresses, who spoke German to each other, just started bringing food. There was no ordering. It just all came. It was only $4.95, as I remember.
I prefer Swedish
Greetings,
Filip
Great description – this is how I have often felt about Scandinavian breakfasts, not just Swedish ones, exactly as though someone just randomly took leftover stuff from the fridge, regardless of whether they should really be eaten for breakfast or not. I am a boring muesli and fruit girl when it comes to breakfast although I do love a nice German spread with plenty of delicious bread rolls and tasty jams. Hmm, getting hungry now!!
Hello Lola!
I love plain yoghurt, a slice of knickebrod with latte och lagom and a slice of gruyere chesse for breakfast when I lived in Sweden. I’d wash it all down with a nice cup of tea. That’s it. Now in Paris, that’s another story! My boyfriend and I toast whole wheat bun and on each half he spreads his fantastical homemade pesto topped with a slice of parma ham, we then have a tiny cup of plain yoghurt and a two cups of Mariage Freres tea. Yum! In France I eat a good breakfast, nothing heavy as it slows me down, a copious lunch and a small dinner. I don’t like anything cooking in the kitchen in the morning unless it’s coffee or tea, but that’s just me. It’s interesting our tastes from country to country.
Wow! How “RIGHT ON” you are!