This is the greatest thing Iâve seen all week. Seriously.
Now I want to see what kids from around the world make of a truck stop breakfast from the heartland.
You mean the the Grand Slam breakfast?
Or three breakfast tacos?
You can get similar entertainment from people watching in a nice hotel in Singapore or other cosmopolitan SE Asian city, as thereâll be breakfasts to suit all tastes on offer (Iâll have Nasi lemak, thank you). There are subtle looks of confusion and slight disgust all round from adults of all races/culture, but kids are often more vocal ⌠
Curious how âtraditionalâ these may be considered by natives to each country. Given the regional/cultural and temporal differences within the old US of A, a âtraditionalâ breakfast here might range from pancakes, to eggs & hash, to SOS & grits, to Fruit Loops & pop tarts.
Still, it was fun to see kids react to what was presented. Distressing to hear the older kids unfamiliarity with the existence/pronunciation of some countries. Seems Eddie Izzard had it about right in his stand-up about our general lack of geographic awareness.
There are only so many hours in a day. I was shocked* that kids donât learn to write in script any longer. That time slot is now devoted to typing class. (Disclaimer - I am not a parent)
Thatâs âgeometry.â
I imagined a mother scolding her son. âOh, no you donât,â she might say. âThis is the most important meal of the day, and youâre not going anywhere until you finish your pickles. Thatâs right, and your seaweed too. Then I want you to eat your cold poached egg submerged in broth and at least half of that cross-eyed fish.â
-David Sedaris, When You Are Engulfed In Flames
watching kids drink coffee = definitely the best thing iâve seen so far today.
My experience is slightly different. Having breakfast with my (then early teen) kids in a (western friendly) Saigon hotel: eyes widen, âI can have noodle soup (he)/pain a chocolat (she) for breakfast?!?! Why donât we live here!!!â
I know my son didnât have lots of Chinese food before we started fostering him, because he couldnât take anything but formula until he was well over 18 months (we started fostering him at 13 months). Still, he wouldnât take a lot of typical western foods when he did start eating. He still doesnât particularly like cake, but he always loved noodles and dried seaweed and for a while, we couldnât get enough of shredded dried squid. He doesnât seem to have much trouble with vegetables, either. Iâm not arguing for some kind of essentialism, just that I guess he picked up a lot of his tastes in the womb. On the other hand, our daughter is generally fine with both western and Chinese tastes (my wife was eating both Chinese and western food when she was pregnant). Itâs a sample size of two, but it is backed up by science.
When my daughter was just over one, I once left my coffee mug down in the living room and went into the kitchen. A few minutes later, she came walking into the kitchen holding the mug and drinking from it. She also loves tea (milk, no sugar), although I donât give either to her as a rule.
Loved the reactionsâŚ
BTW, that breakfast from Finland looked awesome. Iâll take that with an added poached egg, please.
Kind of disappointed that they didnât use proper bread:
I did the same thing when I was four, except it wasnât coffeeâŚit was beer.
Cntlfldrâs comment is on the mark. Brazil is larger than the continental U.S. and the variety of customs for breakfast is large. Coffee I think may actually be a national preference. I donât usually eat fruit in my breakfast, and we definitely usually eat bread (google: pĂŁo frances) with butter.
Youâve obviously done a good job of diversifying their palates. Not everyone is so sensible.
I went out for a good buffet meal in a tourist spot in NZ recently. Restaurant there likewise caters for a wide variety of tastes from across the world. There was a large tourist group from Korea also visiting âyou could tell they were Korean by the number of plates heaped high with just boiled white rice and kimchi; and the little disgust faces as many of them walked past the grill to order bar. Meanwhile, my (British) guests wouldnât move past soup followed by meat and 2 veg then sweet dessert ⌠
âI just found a dead fish in it.â
So⌠youâd rather have found a live fish in it?
I like raw fish, but I sure donât want it to be breathing.
