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When did breakfast become a concept? - According to Dr. Beth Forrest, a professor of food studies at the Culinary Institute of America, breakfast was long tied to concepts of fasting before taking the Eucharist, but it didn't appear in English written form until the 15th century. For a long time, the meal was simply seen as a glorified snack made from leftovers.

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Some things have remained, while others haven’t - Forrest added that while eggs, bacon, bread, and cheese are staples that have appeared in breakfasts since the medieval period, the middle ages also had fish, beer, and wine on the table.

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Porridge used to have more freedom - For centuries, porridges weren't thought of as breakfast foods, but were actually consumed across different meals of the day.

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Time constraints began - One of the effects of the Industrial Revolution was that people had less time to devote to meals, especially breakfast. The meal needed to be prepared quickly, which started to shape what people ate.

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The story of bacon - Bacon wasn't always a staple of breakfast. In the 1920s, Beech-Nut Packing Company, a producer of ham, wanted to sell more bacon, so they hired PR consultant Edward Bernays, the story goes.

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A PR stunt - Since the company found that most Americans ate light breakfasts, Bernays reportedly got 4,500 doctors to sign off on the idea that a heavy breakfast was the healthier way to start the day—the idea alleged that the body loses energy during the night—and he made sure that the news was reported.

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It caught on - The news caught on like wildfire in newspapers, and sales of bacon shot through the roof. Bacon joined eggs as the dynamic morning duo, and they've been together ever since.

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Bagels from Poland - North American breakfasts often also include bagels, which was reportedly a result of the vast number of Jewish people who immigrated between 1880 and 1920 and set up bagel bakeries.

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From bakeries to bags - The popularity of these bakeries was a driving force behind the prepackaged bagels that were eventually sold in grocery stores, both of which launched the breakfast staple to international fame, alongside cream cheese and smoked salmon.

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Cereal was a mistake - In 1898, brothers W.K. Kellogg and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg were working in a sanitarium in Michigan. They were trying to make healthy food to serve their patients when they accidentally left wheat berry cooking in the kitchen, causing the kernels to flake.

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Corn flakes were born - They continued to experiment with their accidentally discovered food, eventually trying the process with corn and creating the cereal we know and love today.

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It took on a religious undertone - Dr. Kellogg famously believed sex was unhealthy, and he marketed this cereal as a way to prevent auto-eroticism—by virtue of its blandness. Through lectures, cookbooks, and marketing pamphlets, cereal was marketed as a healthy option not only for the body, but also for the soul.

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Cereal became marketed to children - Children were targeted by marketing as early as 1909, particularly through the addition of toys in cereal boxes, which still exists to this day. By 2018, the cold cereal business was worth billions.

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Oats have a long history - People have reportedly been growing oats, to feed both themselves and animals, since 2500 BCE.

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But first they were groats - What settlers ate as oats were actually groats, which is the whole oat grain, unrolled.

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The groats were rolled - In the late 19th century, Henry Seymour and William Heston developed rolled oats, and started a company to sell them: Quaker Oats. But neither of them were Quakers…

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Marketing strikes again - The 19th century had seen a lot of food fraud, and since Quakers had a reputation for being honest, Seymour and Heston decided to use the image of a Quaker on their oatmeal, along with the word “pure” to boost the reputation of their product.

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Morning caffeine - A morning jolt of caffeine seems pretty self-explanatory, but colonists once preferred tea over coffee.

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Coffee origins - Coffee can trace its origins to Ethiopia, though no one is sure exactly how or when coffee was discovered. Legend has it that an Ethiopian herder noticed his goats had a lot of energy after eating some berries and decided to give them a try.

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Coffee was an act of patriotism - After England began to heavily tax tea and Americans responded with the Boston Tea Party, drinking coffee became a patriotic act.

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It’s widely loved - Today, coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world, even becoming a veritable art form!

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Orange juice was not the norm -

In Colonial America, until the mid-19th century, the morning wake-me-up drink was hard cider or low-alcohol beer. At that point, oranges were too expensive and hard to get to become a breakfast staple.

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A few things changed - The construction of railroads helped growers expand and ship oranges further, which became more important in the late 1920s when an American scientist isolated Vitamin C, and oranges became a must-have source of the vitamin.

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Then came the innovation of frozen versions - In 1942, the US Army reportedly offered a huge sum to the company that could produce frozen orange juice that tasted good. Richard Morse became the first to commercially produce frozen orange juice concentrate, under the now-famous brand name Minute Maid. Soon after, OJ became a morning must.

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Ancient Greeks enjoyed pancakes - Pancakes at their heart are just a grain batter cooked on a hot surface, versions of which appear in the cuisines of cultures worldwide, so it's believed that some iteration of pancakes were being enjoyed in prehistoric societies with the advent of flour, according to The Daily Meal.

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Why the lack of variation? - Most people have no problem eating the same things for breakfast, but they wouldn’t dream of doing that for lunch or dinner. The meal's utilitarian function may be to blame for why certain foods are almost exclusively eaten in the morning...

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Efficiency - One key feature of modern breakfast foods is that they are quick and easy to assemble, especially as modern people move to electric rhythms of alarm clocks and commuter trains. Mornings often require efficiency.

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"The most important meal of the day" - This idea reportedly took hold in the late 19th century, cementing breakfast's place as nutritionally important, and simultaneously ruling it out as a time for socializing, creativity, or satisfaction.

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Economically practical - Breakfast foods also tend to be economically practical, from rice-based dishes like congee in East Asia to cassava- or maize-based porridges in parts of Africa.

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And the quickest -

Perhaps one of breakfast's worst qualities is its rushed nature. The market spurs it on, however, with toaster strudels, frozen waffles, yogurt drinks, pancake mix, and various other near-instant breakfast options that come as a result of technological advances and busy schedules. 

Source: (How Stuff Works)

Ready to slow down? Try experimenting with these healthy yogurt combo ideas

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