BREAKFAST THE WORLD LOVES

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Whether I am at home or travelling it remains a very important meal and almost a ritual. Every morning I wake up with a hankering for something delicious. Now if that has added a few inches to my girth I am not at all disheartened for I am open to a working lunch on a busy day………..but there can be nothing short cut when it comes to breakfast! While away from home it is a chance to steer away from the regular home cooked breakfast and get into something more interesting, to shake your taste buds into action with spice or salt or delicious grease. It's a time to observe local life, to sit back and ponder the day ahead, to enjoy food that everyone should really be enjoying at all times of the day.

It seems I am not alone in this love for an ideal breakfast, travelers around the world take their breakfast very seriously right from the time they make a booking for their bed & breakfast accommodation. So what is the world eating in breakfast and what should you eat when you are visiting them?

India: The problem with India is it is too big and too heterogeneous. Indians tend to eat for breakfast, spicy, flavourful sauces designed to be sopped up by fried chickpea fritters, or steamed rice cakes, or rice-flour pancakes, or fresh, flaky bread. There are so many different combinations and flavours, but all make an excellent and exciting way to start the day.

Puri, Sabji, Dahi

The choice of breakfast depends on which part of India you are visiting.Thus it can be Luchi and Alur dom with mishit doi (Puri, Dum Aalu and sweet yogurt) in Kolkata, Poha in Mumbai, Aloo Paratha (paratha stuffed with cooked and smashed potatoes and roasted with oil) with makkhan (butter) and lassi (flavoured butter milk) in Delhi, and Rava idli with chutney and sambar in Chennai. You can also go for Poha with jalebi in Central India, Kachori in Rajasthan, Paav Bhaji in Goa, Chole Kulche in Jammu and Punjab, Khaste with jalebi & Dahi in Lucknow and Samosas almost everywhere in India

Nasi Lemak

Malaysia: Nasi lemak is the king of breakfasts. In Malaysia they start the day with an explosion of flavour,

with rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan, with dried anchovies, peanuts, boiled egg, cucumber, maybe some beef rendang, maybe a fried chicken leg, and a big dollop of a chilli-and-fermented-shrimp sambal that's spicy, pungent and incredibly addictive. An absolute must!

China: Congee is the Chinese soup the world loves. It is that rice porridge with various toppings and seasonings is a truly excellent way to begin the day. There are many different styles of congee being served in many different parts of China, and India, and everywhere in Southeast Asia and it is a truly popular breakfast.

Vietnam: Pho is the Vietnamese noodle soup which will never disappoint you, whether you are comfortable with the chopsticks or not. There is no better way to begin a day than with a warming, nourishing, delicious bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup. The flavours aren't too punchy here: pho is more of a gentle shake into wakefulness than nasi lemak's slap in the face. The noodles are filling, the meat is tasty and the subtle spice mix is just right. I love it.

Mohinga

Myanmar: Mohinga is another southeast Asian noodle soup worth a mention. It is an ethnic Burmese dish, eaten across Myanmar in the early morning, dished up at street stands and small shops everywhere you look. This spicy, pungent fish-based soup is served with vermicelli noodles, crispy fried onions, fresh chilli and various other toppings depending on where in the country you are. Absolutely delicious!

Japan: Don’t ask me the name. A fresh, seasonal, complex and amazing breakfast that the Japanese sometimes indulge in whther they're staying at a fancy hotel or  a ryokan comprises of grilled fish, Japanese omelette, miso soup, pickles, and usually multiple small bites of all things zesty, funky, umami and delicious. This is a serious treat but you will have to pick them up from the smorgasbord and spice them to suit your taste!

Egypt: Ful medames is Egypt's national breakfast dish. It is a thick, hearty fava bean stew, served with chopped parsley, and sometimes boiled eggs. Anyone who doesn't try this while they're in Egypt – well, I pity them!

Turkey: Breakfast can be a huge choice! At its most basic you'll find fresh tomatoes, sliced cucumber, local cheese, olives, boiled eggs, and maybe "simit", the donut-shaped Turkish bread coated in sesame seeds. Fancier versions include cured meats, savoury pastries, and scrambled eggs with sausage. Oh, and a heart-warming Turkish coffee.

Italy: Café e cornetto - Breakfast is probably the least important meal of the day to Italians. This isn't something to sit down and savour, but rather something to smash and go. Plenty of Italians will call into a bar in the early morning for a coffee and a "cornetto", a croissant filled with sweet cream, eaten while standing up and chatting, with little to no ceremony. I'm a fan.

Spain and Portugal: Churros con chocolate: Most people would consider fried sticks of donut batter dipped in thick chocolate to be a dessert dish, but not the Spanish. In Spain and also in Portugal, churros con chocolate are eaten first thing in the morning, the breakfast of champions. They're a sweet, sticky and perfectly lovely way to get things going.

France: Croissant is an absolute classic and has spread around the world, from Tokyo to Tunis, from Moscow to Mumbai. A croissant is a simple, buttery pastry that's almost alchemical in its brilliance. The French start their day with this and coffee.

Bacon, sausage, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms,
baked beans, fried bread

England: Breakfast is the best meal available in England. An artery-clogging plate of bacon, sausage, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans, fried bread, and maybe even black pudding, will set you up for the day. Be forewarned it may set you up for a morning nap, who can say? Still, this is one fine breakfast.

Ireland: Irish breakfast is not dissimilar to the English, only with the addition of both black pudding (a sausage made using pork blood) and white pudding (a sausage made using pork fat and liver). If that doesn't get your day started right, nothing will.

Australia: Breakfast can be light and cold - cereal, toast coffee and fruits or hot and heavy - smokey bacon, eggs, sausages, hash brown and grilled tomatoes and mushrooms. Corn fritters with Avocardo salsa and Vegimite sandwich are typically Aussie though!

Mexico: Chilaquiles is as full of flavour as so much of the other Mexican cuisine: huevos rancheros, fried eggs with beans, smothered in spicy sauce; tamales, steamed cornmeal with various fillings; huevos divorciados, eggs with two sauces. But my favourite is chilaquiles, fried corn tortillas topped with plenty of spicy sauce, queso fresco cheese and sometimes shredded meat.

Egg Benedict

U.S.A: Eggs Benedict is a classic breakfast dish that originated in New York City, and includes a few of Americans' great loves: English muffins, eggs, ham, and rich, buttery Hollandaise sauce. You can now find eggs Benedict served throughout much of the Western world, and it's almost always good.