IN PRAISE OF THE EUROPEAN BREAKFAST

Love bacon and eggs, but there is more out there in the world.

The best thing about travelling is to be reminded that there are other ways of doing things. People think differently Over There. They dress differently, live differently, respond to the present moment differently. It might be that they queue for everything. They sleep under heavy duvets. They eat funny biscuits, and butter that tastes like unsalted cheese. They sit in hot saunas and plunge into freezing cold seas for their health. I could go on. The one thing we have in common is that our garbage trucks make the same godawful noise at six in the morning.

Clearly, I am currently travelling in Europe in spring, and that means that I am falling in love with the idea of a European breakfast again. Like this one from Café Storm in Antwerp’s Museum aan de Stroom, down ‘on the stream’ by the docks.

Oh, you want to see it close-up?

It’s not an easy thing to define, the Euro brekky, because there is actually no such thing. It’s more of an attitude.  When I’m back home again, I’m ditching the weekend’s eggs and bacon for a platter of rye bread, smoked ham and cheese. Maybe a warm boiled egg as well. Or smoked salmon and cucumber pickles, if I’m feeling Scandi, like this one from the Hotel Franq in Antwerp.

Here, for the purposes of possible inspiration, is a list of likely suspects:

• Jarlsberg, gruyere, gouda, Emmenthal, etc., thinly sliced

• Prosciutto, jamon, gypsy ham, mortadella, etc.

• Rye bread, fruit bread, crispbread, baguette, etc.

• Boiled egg (soft or hard or jammy).

• Cottage cheese, yoghurt, labne, etc.

• Smoked salmon, herrings, rollmops, etc.

• Potato tortilla, raw vegetables, ripe tomatoes, etc.

• Croissants, Danish pastries, pain chocolat, etc.

• Fresh fruit, juices, berries, etc.

That’s pretty much the recipe. Compose a selection on a platter, or set everything out on the table and let people pick and choose. Or do a tray and take it back to bed on Mother’s Day, or any other day.

This isn’t actually about eating a European breakfast; it’s about challenging our own assumptions that what we do and eat, the habits we have grown into, and the tastes we have developed, are all we need. We have to shake it up every now and then, or things get too tightly wound, too clearly defined, too ‘this is who I am’.

You feel different when you eat this sort of food for breakfast. Your body registers the change, and so does your brain. Neural patterns, people! It also affects what you feel like for lunch – there’s a domino effect that keeps you open to the possibility of change. Blimey, who knows what dinner will bring. The world, and all its possibilities, is wide open.

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and random thoughts, love ’em. And special thanks to Terry for the foraging of good things for breakfast wherever we may roam.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I usually work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s only fair, folks.