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How ‘Bacon and Eggs’ Became the American Breakfast

americantable.org

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Re: How ‘Bacon and Eggs’ Became the American Breakfast

#41

Post by dylandrop »

liquidcool wrote: post #23
dylandrop wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Before this, the majority of Americans ate more modest, often meatless breakfasts that might include fruit, a grain porridge (oat, wheat or corn meals) or a roll, and usually a cup of coffee. Pretty hard to argue that bacon is really as healthy as oatmeal & fruit. Just for reference, fried eggs have a crapload of cholesterol ( http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=fried+egg ) and bacon is pretty fattening and in gene…

However, eggs have equal amounts of good (HDL) and bad (LDL) cholesterol, so most nutritionists feel they cancel each other out and hence eggs aren't considered bad. Few are recommending bacon (although Canadian bacon is fairly lean).

Yeah, I don't think eggs are the primary bad guy here, it's mostly the oil / butter for frying and the bacon.

Also considering the alternative mentioned in the article, eating some fruit and some grains would probably be much healthier.

Re: How ‘Bacon and Eggs’ Became the American Breakfast

#42

Post by bane »

A bit of hyperbole, but having married into an East Asian household and spent lots of time traveling around the world, I'm soundly convinced that a well defined breakfast meal, with its own traditions, foods and culinary style, is one of the greatest inventions of western civilization.

I have to question this article because the American breakfast is pretty much just a local variant on the traditional full breakfast [1][2] popular in the UK and Ireland -- and you find similar meals in Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand...kinda what you'd expect.

But as a meal, it's unbelievably awesome. Far better than some reheated fermented bean soup, a bowl of cold rice and some cold fish (which is what I get served when I visit my in-laws).

Actually, the truth is, I can eat local food almost anywhere in the world for 2 meals a day, but breakfast...there's something really special about a full breakfast. Even if I can't swing a full breakfast, I can almost always cook up some eggs and eat a sweat pastry or something from a local bakery I bought the night before.

1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_breakfast

2 - http://www.englishbreakfastsociety.com/english-breakfast/his...

Re: How ‘Bacon and Eggs’ Became the American Breakfast

#43

Post by teh_klev »

binarymax wrote: post #13

Bacon is one of the few things that I refuse to eat. I don't understand how anyone likes the stuff. It makes me wonder, if the all-American breakfast was a bowl of fruit and a glass of milk, would there have been an obesity epidemic?

I feel the same about liver, kidneys and other dark coloured wobbly bits in an animal. But hey I know a few older folks who eat both bacon AND these suspicious looking parts and they're perfectly healthy, normal sized and don't have health problems. Obesity isn't caused by bacon alone, it's lack of exercise, hugely fat and suger laden treats and booze...amongst other things. Having bacon for breakfast also makes you less hungry during the day and so you snack less on crap until the next meal. The problem with fruit is that you burn through it on no time at all and within and hour and a half you're hungry again. Bacon seems to have an excellent slow release of energy and provided you don't scoff the crispy fatty rind is perfectly healthy.

Re: How ‘Bacon and Eggs’ Became the American Breakfast

#44

Post by sp332 »

teh_klev wrote: post #22
gxs wrote: post #6

I can't remember off the top of my head, but it's amazing how many of our american "traditions" are a result of marketing. While there is nothing inherently bad about this, it definitely gives me a sense that something is not authentic when I come to learn it was the result of a marketing campaign. This bacon and eggs breakfast is just one example. Grilled cheese and tomato soup is another. Can anyone recall any othe…

"Grilled cheese and tomato soup" - at first I thought you were having a laugh. Then I googled. I like to think of myself as widely eaten (hence being widely sized), but that's a new one on me. I do vaguely remember in British "bistros" seeing soups topped with cheese (and sometimes with pastry) then salamandered until the bowl (or glazed pot as was the vogue back then) was so bloody hot it removed your fingerprints,…

Just to be clear - GP is referring to a grilled cheese sandwich, served with tomato soup.

Re: How ‘Bacon and Eggs’ Became the American Breakfast

#45

Post by nazgulnarsil »

dylandrop wrote: post #11
mathattack wrote: post #4

Believe it or not, though, bacon’s association with the American breakfast is barely a century old I'm not sure why this would be hard to believe at all. In the 1920s, Bernays was approached by the Beech-Nut Packing Company – producers of everything from pork products to the nostalgic Beech-Nut bubble gum. Beech-Nut wanted to increase consumer demand for bacon. Bernays turned to his agency’s internal doctor and asked…

>Before this, the majority of Americans ate more modest, often meatless breakfasts that might include fruit, a grain porridge (oat, wheat or corn meals) or a roll, and usually a cup of coffee. Pretty hard to argue that bacon is really as healthy as oatmeal & fruit. Just for reference, fried eggs have a crapload of cholesterol ( http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=fried+egg ) and bacon is pretty fattening and in gene…

Dietary cholesterol is not well correlated with blood serum cholesterol. Dietary fat is also not "fattening." I really wish people wouldn't mindlessly repeat nutritional maxims, they cause a lot of harm.

Re: How ‘Bacon and Eggs’ Became the American Breakfast

#47

Post by R_Edward »

rdl wrote: post #18

It's interesting that the traditional NASA launch morning breakfast is steak and eggs -- apparently protein/fat foods don't cause gas or other GI upset in space, unlike breads, etc. http://www.who2.com/blog/2009/07/t-minus-2-days-and-counting... (although this seems to be less the case now) (Which is why "steak and eggs at [the place astronauts go before launch]" is the ideal answer to "what do you want your last mea…

Eggs don't cause gas? All I'm gonna say to that is that you do NOT want to be within 4 cubicles of my co-worker during the couple hours after he has an omelet for lunch!

Re: How ‘Bacon and Eggs’ Became the American Breakfast

#49

Post by biondim »

ajlburke wrote: post #9
ronilan wrote: post #5

Somewhat OT but there is this old story - a startup is just like bacon and eggs. In a startup, all employees are contributors while the founders are commited. Same as in bacon and eggs. The chickens are contributors but the pigs are commited. And the outcome? If you want the biggest share you need to be a pig. And you can only do that if you are not a chicken.

Yeah but what happens to the pigs in the end? Chickens are still around afterwards to lay more eggs.

At least as long as they still have eggs to lay. Once they run out they are tossed (as in thrown into a landfill). Net / Net, it doesn't end well for either party.

Re: How ‘Bacon and Eggs’ Became the American Breakfast

#50

Post by R_Edward »

gxs wrote: post #6

I can't remember off the top of my head, but it's amazing how many of our american "traditions" are a result of marketing. While there is nothing inherently bad about this, it definitely gives me a sense that something is not authentic when I come to learn it was the result of a marketing campaign. This bacon and eggs breakfast is just one example. Grilled cheese and tomato soup is another. Can anyone recall any othe…

The lavish white wedding dress and all the Bridezilla-esque trappings?
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