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The research is in: Eating breakfast can do everything from boosting your memory to helping you lose weight. Here, some highlights—including the rise of OJ, and how doughnuts got their holes—from 400 years of morning in America.
1600s
Pilgrims’ Brew
Mornings were harsh in the New World’s first settlements, but that’s not why colonists knocked back a pint with breakfast. Beer or hard cider was safer to drink than the not-so-potable water. The settlers also downed “mush,” a maize porridge they picked up from their Native American neighbors.
1700s
The Dutch Do Doughnuts
Immigrants from the Netherlands introduced oliebollen (“oil balls”), what we now call doughnuts. These deep-fried dollops of dough later became ring-shaped as part of an effort to speed production time and solve the soggy-middle problem.
1902
Radical Flakes
Dr. John H. Kellogg and his brother, W.K., baked up the first batch of corn flakes in a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Mich.—a mecca for health enthusiasts. Kellogg was a pioneer in proclaiming grains a healthy food; his growing business of mail-order cereal soon helped him (and his more business-minded brother) spread the word.
1906
The Presidential Whopper
William Howard Taft was a big (emphasis on big) fan of breakfast. On a visit to Savannah, Ga., in 1906, the 350-pound president broke his fast one morning by eating shrimp with hominy, potted partridge, broiled venison, waffles with maple syrup, hot rolls, and a grapefruit. Fellow diners reportedly watched in awe.
1940s
Orange Juice Goes to War
OJ was just a seasonal treat until WWII, when the government charged the Florida Citrus Commission with finding a way to ship vitamin C–packed juice overseas to prevent scurvy among the troops. Their solution, frozen concentrate, was literally created in a vacuum—and gave rise to a major new U.S. industry. By the war’s end, reconstituted juice had reached the front lines. And by the 1950s, housewives across the country were stirring up OJ for breakfast year-round.
1960
Green Eggs and Ham
Well before will.i.am, there was Sam-I-Am, the relentlessly eager, insidiously creative little imp who advocated trying green eggs and ham (in a box/with a fox/in a house/with a mouse). The Dr. Seuss book became the fourth-biggest-selling children’s title of all time.
1961
Audrey Hepburn Gets It to Go
The trailer for Breakfast at Tiffany’s promised “the wildest night New York ever knew,” but it was Holly Golightly’s early-morning idyll outside Tiffany’s that became the film’s most iconic scene. With takeout coffee and Danish in hand, the Givenchy-clad Hepburn made brown-bagging it look positively elegant.
1970s (Part one)
The Birth of the Power Breakfast
New York’s Regency hotel claims to have launched the power-breakfast trend when its hotel chairman met with city leaders to forge a plan to save the Big Apple from bankruptcy.
1970s (Part Two)
The Crunchy Set
What travels well in rucksacks, goes with nuts and berries,
and doubles as code for “hippie”? When granola caught on with the kids in the ’70s, everyone else gained a whole new way to label the eco-friendly. As in: “He may not wear Birkenstocks, but he’s still pretty crunchy.”
1600s
Pilgrims’ Brew
Mornings were harsh in the New World’s first settlements, but that’s not why colonists knocked back a pint with breakfast. Beer or hard cider was safer to drink than the not-so-potable water. The settlers also downed “mush,” a maize porridge they picked up from their Native American neighbors.
1700s
The Dutch Do Doughnuts
Immigrants from the Netherlands introduced oliebollen (“oil balls”), what we now call doughnuts. These deep-fried dollops of dough later became ring-shaped as part of an effort to speed production time and solve the soggy-middle problem.
1902
Radical Flakes
Dr. John H. Kellogg and his brother, W.K., baked up the first batch of corn flakes in a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Mich.—a mecca for health enthusiasts. Kellogg was a pioneer in proclaiming grains a healthy food; his growing business of mail-order cereal soon helped him (and his more business-minded brother) spread the word.
1906
The Presidential Whopper
William Howard Taft was a big (emphasis on big) fan of breakfast. On a visit to Savannah, Ga., in 1906, the 350-pound president broke his fast one morning by eating shrimp with hominy, potted partridge, broiled venison, waffles with maple syrup, hot rolls, and a grapefruit. Fellow diners reportedly watched in awe.
1940s
Orange Juice Goes to War
OJ was just a seasonal treat until WWII, when the government charged the Florida Citrus Commission with finding a way to ship vitamin C–packed juice overseas to prevent scurvy among the troops. Their solution, frozen concentrate, was literally created in a vacuum—and gave rise to a major new U.S. industry. By the war’s end, reconstituted juice had reached the front lines. And by the 1950s, housewives across the country were stirring up OJ for breakfast year-round.
1960
Green Eggs and Ham
Well before will.i.am, there was Sam-I-Am, the relentlessly eager, insidiously creative little imp who advocated trying green eggs and ham (in a box/with a fox/in a house/with a mouse). The Dr. Seuss book became the fourth-biggest-selling children’s title of all time.
1961
Audrey Hepburn Gets It to Go
The trailer for Breakfast at Tiffany’s promised “the wildest night New York ever knew,” but it was Holly Golightly’s early-morning idyll outside Tiffany’s that became the film’s most iconic scene. With takeout coffee and Danish in hand, the Givenchy-clad Hepburn made brown-bagging it look positively elegant.
1970s (Part one)
The Birth of the Power Breakfast
New York’s Regency hotel claims to have launched the power-breakfast trend when its hotel chairman met with city leaders to forge a plan to save the Big Apple from bankruptcy.
1970s (Part Two)
The Crunchy Set
What travels well in rucksacks, goes with nuts and berries,
and doubles as code for “hippie”? When granola caught on with the kids in the ’70s, everyone else gained a whole new way to label the eco-friendly. As in: “He may not wear Birkenstocks, but he’s still pretty crunchy.”
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