The American Breakfast

I was reading an article with my freshman class the other day about a Tokyo business hotel. The hotel offered a free "American breakfast" to its residents, and just for kicks I decided to ask my students what they thought that was.

First, I asked what was in a typical Chinese breakfast. "Rice," was the predominant answer, no surprise. In Korea it would have been "kimchi and rice."

Then I asked what they thought Americans ate for breakfast. "Hamburgers!" was the loudest and most repeated answer. I also heard "bread" and "milk" which was a little closer to the truth. Pizza was also a popular answer.

After explaining that sandwiches like hamburgers are most commonly eaten for lunch, dinner, or as a late night drunk-extender, I told them that American breakfasts usually include something like cereal, toasted bread (that's toast to those of you in the red states) and eggs. They got a kick out of that last one.

Hamburgers for breakfast...hmm, not a bad idea.