You roll out of bed, do your morning routine, maybe exercise, choose an outfit and eventually find yourself in the kitchen. You choose your beverage of choice, then contemplate the options as determined by any number of factors: the time you have available, what is in the fridge, your plan for the rest of the day, what kind of cooking appliances you have at hand, even where you are in the country. Then based on those criteria, you pour a cup of coffee and are off to the races.
Experts say that that first meal is the most important meal of the day: it gives you fuel, can lead to higher cognitive performance, helps prevent disease and promotes a healthy metabolism. Unfortunately many of us honor that sentiment in the breach as much as in practice. But if given the time and a full refrigerator, by far and away the most popular breakfast selection is eggs: fully 65% of those surveyed ranked them as their top pick. Scrambled, hard-boiled or over easy, there are as many ways to prepare them as people. After that comes sausage, toast, pancakes and cereal. Only after the satisfying stuff do you get to the healthier choices, such as fruit and oatmeal. And bringing up the bottom of the top ten is the worst but the best: doughnuts.
But while those may be the most traditional options, they are hardly the only ones. Smoothies and yogurt get many going, while choices common in other countries and cultures such as breakfast salads and meat and cheese are the choice of some. Bean stews, fish and different types of porridges give others a kick start. And if given the option, a survey says that over half of Americans would pass on bacon and eggs if there was a cold slice of pizza sitting in the fridge.
Of course, like many things, popularity and practicality don't always coincide. I for one would love to make a nice breakfast of eggs and sausage with a side of fruit and toast. But along with a third to half of my fellow adults, my choices are constrained as I would have to wolf it down in a hurry, forgoing a leisurely intake in favor of getting out the door. Or just as likely, along with 4 in 10 of my fellow sufferers, I often just skip it entirely as I race for the train.
That situation has led to the popularity of grab and go options. The breakfast sandwich has been around since the 1800's, with the first recipe appearing in a cookbook in 1897. And while it grew in popularity in the 1960's along with a focus on all things fast and convenient, it took the fast-food industry and McDonald's Egg McMuffin in 1972 to cement it in our lives. More recently, as Hispanic culture has increased its reach, the breakfast burrito has become a staple as well. Both approaches have it all: your favorite ingredients, packaged in a way that enable you to eat and drive/walk/work/study/juggle a kid.
Trying to pair this reality with American tastes, the Swiss food giant Nestle is thrusting its DiGiorno brand into the mix. As the leader in frozen pizza, they have considerable experience in that arena, just on the dinner side of the ledger. But starting last month they rolled out their Croissant Crust Breakfast Pizzas, available in three flavors: Eggs Benedict Inspired, Sausage & Gravy, and Cinnamon Roll ("cinnamon cream sauce, cream cheese crumbles, churro pieces, and cinnamon flakes on a croissant crust"). Never mind that "cinnamon roll" and "pizza" seems at odds in form and construction. It would seem that if it's flat, round and you can slice it as a wedge, it's a pizza no matter if the topping is peperoni or brown sugar.
While the flavors and format might be attractive, the preparation would seem to be at odds with the intended use. The directions call for you to pop the pizza in the oven, bake it for 25 minutes, then cool it and serve. If they really wanted to be true to what people wanted, then the directions would be as follows: 1) Make night before. 2) Put in fridge onto top of leftover bowl of dip. 3)Grab slice and enjoy.
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford likes cold pizza, but more as a snack. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment