Mom's Food for Thought: 5 Countries with special breakfast dishes

What would you prefer to have for breakfast? Below are some countries with its typical breakfast menu. Err… makes me hungry!

Japan

People in Japan have a traditional menu for their breakfast. Rice with Nori (seaweed), seafood (usually fishes) and Natto (fermented soy bean) is a must-have-dish for the morning. Most families and restaurants will serve this as their main menu for breakfast. Rice is Japanese’s main food; it supplies you with energy throughout the day. Instead of bread, many Japanese would prefer to have rice for breakfast. The carbohydrate in rice provides energy so they won’t get tired during the day. Meanwhile fishes and Natto are required to fulfill the daily protein intake. Natto is also good for preventing cancer as it is made from soybean which is known to avert cancer. If you are in New York and would like to taste Japanese menu, you may visit Chado, Soto or the Sugiyama Restaurant.

2. Turkey

Turkish’ breakfast menu contains cheese, butter, olives, eggs, tomatoes, cucumber, fruits and honey upon a kaymak. Kaymak is a creamy dairy product made from milk, milked from water buffalos in the East or cows in the West.. Another special menu for breakfast in Turkey is menemen, it is Turkish scrambled eggs. A stack of roasted tomato, chili, olive oil and egg are cooked together. This one is delivered along with a cup of black tea. Both kaymak and menemen are good for breakfast since it give a lot of energy for whole day activities as Kaymak is made from milk, it is full of protein and calcium that is important for our body. New Yorkers may try it at Dervish, Sahara Restaurant and Turquoise Café.

3. Cambodia

Cambodian loves babaw/bobor. It is rice porridge served with salted egg, pickled vegetables or dried fish. Sometimes it is also served with sliced pork and chicken. Their cuisine is similar to other Southeast Asia countries, but they often use pork and rice. The porridge has the same nutrition as rice, which is packed with carbohydrates. Moreover, veggies, egg, pork and other complements are also good for additional nutrients such as protein and vitamin. The porridge as well as the rice is great for Vitamin B. Pork is very high in thiamin (vitamin B1) and healthier than red meat.

4. Sweden

Swede’s dish for breakfast consists of fish, meat and potatoes. But their specialty is the meatball which is served with boiled potatoes, sauce, lingonberry jam, pancake and lutfisk. The lingonberry has plentiful organic acids, vitamin C, provitamin A, B vitamins and other nutrients. It looks yummy and healthy because of the variation. The beverage for accompanying this menu is called aktavit, which is a very popular aperitif in Sweden. If you’re having some time to fly to Chicago, you can visit Ann Sather and try the Swedish breakfast menu.

5. Australia

Most of the menus are similar to the western cuisine, such as cereals, toasts and fruits. Another popular breakfast menu is Vegemite, which is usually applied on toasts and combined with tea, coffee, juice or milk. Vegemite is made from leftover brewers' yeast extract (a by-product of beer manufacture) and various vegetable and spice additives. It is very dark reddish-brown, almost black, in color, and one of the richest sources known of Vitamin B. It's thick like peanut butter but very salty. The main ingredient of Vegemite is yeast extract, and it is one of the world's richest known sources of B vitamins, specifically thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and folic acid, but unlike Marmite and some other yeast extracts, it contains no vitamin B12. As the main ingredient is yeast extract, it is good for brain.

A common way of enjoying vegemite is by spreading it upon the thin layer of butter or margarine. It can be used for pies, burgers, pizzas and pastry’s filling.