Breakfast?
September 19, 2007
My son Charles, who lives in Los Angeles, sends this interesting site on which a photographer, Jon Huck I presume, has taken pictures of people posed with what they eat for breakfast. The breakfast project is along the lines of the spectacular books, Hungry Planet among them, done by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio, and for which I wrote the introduction. These are fascinating takes on what people really eat (as opposed to what they tell nutritionists). Enjoy!
Update: Turns out you can join this project. Take a camera with you to breakfast and send the results to Jon Huck. He will post your entry.
As I expected, most of the breakfasts are refined carbs (starch & sugar). I stopped scrolling after while. To quote your CSPI friends, those starchy breakfasts are a “heart attack on a plate (or bowl)”. Triglyceride levels (blood fats formed from excess dietary carbohydrates) and A1c test results (average measure of blood glucose - glycosylation - over a few months’ time) are far better predictors of CVD than LDL or total cholesterol or even cholesterol ratios. www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/15945839.php
My favorite was the boiled egg (soft boiled, presumably, which keeps the yolk at its most delicious and nutritious) with the fantastic blue ceramic bird egg cup/plate. I’d love to get a set of those lovely dishes for my breakfast, since 3 eggs are daily breakfast fare for me. Wow, I don’t think I’ll be able to get those egg dishes out of my mind all day.
Comment by Anna — September 19, 2007 @ 11:54 am
Holy cow! Thank you so much for posting this! That was great! I looked at every one … I felt like a such a voyeur. I guess they are all from America? There were a lot of breads and cereals it looks like, and milky and yogurty foods, sometimes a few berries thrown in. I could probably count on one hand how many eggs I saw, but admittedly, I couldn’t tell exactly what I was looking at sometimes
Comment by Bix — September 19, 2007 @ 1:25 pm
I went back and finished looking at the photos. I was struck by how young all the subjects were - no elderly people at all! Not really many people in full-blown middle age, either. What happened to them, I wonder?
Also, a few people had some greens or veggies in their breakfasts, but the majority of foods were sweet in some way (or break down into simple sugars). Also, I could not detect any fish or meats, which are commonly eaten for breakfast in many non-American cultures (unless some of the bowls of white creamy stuff was pickled herring in cream, but I assumed it to be yogurt).
Personally, I find that some fat and protein are the best way to start the day and make it to lunch without mid-morning hunger pangs.
Comment by Anna — September 19, 2007 @ 1:44 pm
Thank you for posting this. I was absolutely fascinated! Looking at what a person eats for breakfast is a really interesting way to observe a culture, as people tend to eat more or less the same breakfast every day, whereas lunches and dinners vary far more from day to day. It was also interesting to try and figure out what some of the dishes actually were! Do you know if this is an ongoing project or not? I’ll bookmark the page, regardless.
I’m with Bix, too–feeling a bit the voyeur right now…
Comment by Robyn M. — September 19, 2007 @ 2:10 pm
I know that this may not be necessarily what the project is about, but as art I wasn’t really impressed with the photos because the person doesn’t seem to be connected with the food, whereas in Hungry Planet people were actually sitting with it. There are some exceptions; for example the guy who had the burrito is standing in the convenience store, and the guy with the “Amtrak” coffee cup and a bagel is standing on a train.
I was surprised by how little some people eat for breakfast and how some people get away with calling a cup of coffee “breakfast”. My boyfriend tried to do that this morning and I made him eat some yogurt and a banana (hehe).
Comment by Vincci — September 20, 2007 @ 8:25 pm
Like Vincci, I was also very surprised at how little people eat for breakfast. Occasionally, I do enjoy traditional carb-loaded breakfasts (pancakes or waffles) but they feel so heavy afterwards. I have been experimenting with protein powder (in substitute of some flour) but I haven’t hit on the right formula yet for pancakes.
Comment by Nic — September 21, 2007 @ 2:29 pm
[…] I like this one for the slight look of deprivation in his face… Via Marion Nestle. […]
Pingback by Breakfast « Harpoon — October 4, 2007 @ 2:35 am
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