What Is Breakfast Food, Anyway?

In case you haven’t seen one of the 1,004,553 news stories about it, there’s an egg shortage right now caused by an ongoing outbreak of avian influenza. The topic has been so dominant in the news, in fact, that there are equally vast numbers of articles about ways to substitute eggs in your morning breakfast, including tons of vegan products that mimic both their ability to leaven baked goods and scramble up alongside peppers and onions in an omelet. But what if there’s another option: just not eating eggs in the morning at all?

This is a question that I frequently face when it comes time to eat in the morning. Eggs and I have a love-hate relationship, meaning that I love eggs until I absolutely cannot stand the sight of them. As such, I spend a lot of time thinking about what the hell I’m going to have for breakfast, especially when my brain has arbitrarily decided that eggs are off the menu. Like most people, I limit my breakfast options to a pretty normal rotating cast of characters — cheesy toast, cottage cheese and fruit, the perfection that is a breakfast taco — but I’m coming to realize that it’s ridiculously limiting to insist that I eat “breakfast food” in the morning. There’s no law mandating that I have to have eggs, bacon, and toast, even if that is largely considered a standard American breakfast. In fact, I can eat whatever the hell I want, regardless of the time of day.

I understand, logically, how these made-up rules come to be. It makes sense that many folks wouldn’t want strong flavors or sleep-inducing carbs first thing in the morning, but both of those things already exist in breakfast foods that are common around the world, like pho and congee. Even when eggs are involved in my breakfast, I’m regularly pouring salsa on top or wrapping them in a fluffy flour tortilla, so my insistence on sticking to traditional breakfast foods in the morning just doesn’t make any sense. (See: the aforementioned breakfast taco.)

Perhaps this shortage will make me fully break free from the idea that I have to eat eggs in the morning. Maybe I’ll start tomorrow with a bowl of brothy beans laden with herbs and olive oil, or a bowl of teriyaki-marinated chicken and rice. Maybe I’ll take inspiration from the classic Japanese breakfast and pair a soy-glazed filet of salmon with a comforting bowl of miso soup. (I work from home, so there’s no one here to complain about the smell of fish cooking in the morning besides my dog, and I think that’s a development he’d appreciate.) All of these meals are just as satiating and nutritious as the classic combo of bacon, eggs, and toast, even if the flavor profiles are vastly different.

I imagine I’m not the only person who ends up stuck in a breakfast rut, or spending entirely too much time thinking about how to not end up hangry while also avoiding eggs. I think the simplest solution to that problem is also the most obvious: just eat something else, even if it doesn’t seem like morning is the “right time” to consume that dish. There’s no food cop who shows up at your door if you eat a bowl of pizza beans or mac and cheese for breakfast, which means that all you have to lose is your own preconceived notions about what a morning meal should be.