I’m thrilled that breakfasts are in again. As a fan of hearty breakfasts, I savour every moment of them. Whenever possible I try to eat in peace, enjoying the flavours and different textures. (Photo: Zsolnay Cafe, Brinner)

Start you day with dinner, finish it with breakfast.

And I know that others are fond of the first meal of the day as well, as Instagram is full of posts on breakfast: both Hungarian and international bloggers (Breakfastloverlili, Breakfast Luxury, delicious.breakfast) share their appetising and colourful breakfasts day by day. (And the number of breakfast hashtags on Instagram is about to reach 78 million.)

Why is breakfast important? What is its function? What does a substantial breakfast look like? Why do so many people envy the Turkish? And how is breakfast represented in pop culture?

“My day is off to a good start after a perfect breakfast” - said a friend of mine. In his opinion, without exaggerating, whole day is defined by what we eat and how much time we spend consuming our food.

„Thanks to it - breakfast for dinner aka brinner-, breakfast is available anytime during the day" - that is a motto for Zsolnay Cafe Brinner. Photo: Zsolnay Cafe

That’s the reason why we have to have breakfast every day

Our body needs the continuous supply of energy throughout the day.

A regular, varied, thought threw breakfast can jump-start our whole day. Breakfast is one of our fuels. How can we expect ourselves to perform well if we skip it?

What does a substantial breakfast look like?

It’s vital for our breakfast to contain animal protein: eggs (egg cream, poached eggs or egg salad), dairy products, meat – ham for example – or fish. Consider also to enrich your meal with vegetable spread and vegetables: avocado, tomato, pepper, cucumber or some mixed salad.

Pastries have their own role: ensuring carbohydrate intake. It’s advised to consume fruits or at least some freshly squeezed juice. And don’t forget to take at least a glass of water when drinking coffee.

Here is the reason why so many envy the Turkish

Turkish people love to have breakfast in a leisurely manner while chatting, preoccupied with eating and talking – although usually they only have time for that during the weekend.

But when they do, the table groans under the weight of food, full of delicious cheese, olives, yoghurts, ham, but garlic bread, jam, aubergine, yoghurt and cucumber dip with mint, menemen, hummus and sausages can also be on the menu, accompanied by freshly brewed tea surrounded by plates and bowls.

If you have been to Istanbul, you’ll be familiar with its many breakfast spots, and you’ll know that people like to go from time to time outdoors, to the breakfast gardens along the coasts of the Bosporus to enjoy together the food they made and packed home.

If William Foster had gotten his breakfast in Falling Down, perhaps things would not have come to this point

Do you remember the movie from 1993, when Michael Douglas has a serious breakdown and runs amok? The story is based on how he feels being hindered and up against the wall. The final straw is when he wants to have breakfast in a fast food restaurant but is denied service because it’s almost 11 o’clock and they don’t serve breakfast after that time.

The iconic conversation about breakfast

“I’d like a ham and cheese Whamlette, and your Wham fries...”

“I’m sorry, we stopped serving breakfast, but we are on lunch menu now.”

“I want breakfast.”

“Well, you can’t have it, we’re not serving it.”

“So you said. Is that the manager?”

“Yeah.”

“Could I speak to him, please?”

“Sure. Rick, there’s a customer, that’d like to speak with you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hi, I’d like some breakfast.”

“We stopped serving breakfast.”

“I know you stopped serving breakfast, Rick. Sheila told me you stopped serving breakfast... Why am I calling you by your first names, I don’t even know who you are.”

Provided that William Foster had gotten his breakfast, would the story have ended differently? I don’t think so, he probably would’ve had another problem. He’s forced to take an involuntary path already at the beginning and from then on – I could feel it in my guts – there’s no turning back, he’s destined to fail. But the scene quoted above highlights how such trifles or things appearing to be trifles can lead to explosion.

The point of a brinner is to eat what we would usually have for breakfast whenever it feels right. If it is dinner time, then have it for dinner, what it boils down to is to enjoy the meal. By the way there has been a minor debate on Reddit concerning the brinner shown in the series Scrubs, and one user argued that he often had breakfast for dinner as a child, so he doesn’t get those who don’t get brinner.

Hotels and restaurants are also getting more flexible concerning breakfast

This is exactly why some of them have introduced brinner. I have personally experienced several times what brinner means and how much you miss it if the option is not available. In Italy, for example, in a small hotel near Corso Cavour 11 years ago I would get lavish breakfasts with various pastries, butter, jam, cheese, ham, huge quantities of orange juice and monstrously strong coffee. It supplied me with enough physical and spiritual energy for almost the whole day. But if I had tried to ask for it for dinner... They simply didn’t understand what I wanted.

More than a decade has passed since then and the appearance of social media, smart phone apps and the needs of the new generations has brought about countless changes, teaching a great number of branches of industries to adapt to these needs and to spoil the less well-off guests too.

Even by simply letting them have breakfast whenever they want...