1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:11,320 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum Here bacon, eggs and toast, coffee 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,160 Speaker 1: and orange juice. If you grew up in North America 4 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:18,239 Speaker 1: or parts of Europe, you're probably picturing breakfast. But when 5 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,480 Speaker 1: you think about it, anything nutritious and filling is enough 6 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: to get you going in the morning. So why are 7 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: these foods, as opposed to other equally tasty things relegated 8 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:32,199 Speaker 1: to breakfast? For the article this episode is based on 9 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,239 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Spoke by email with Dr Beth Forrest, 10 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: a professor of Liberal arts and Applied Food studies at 11 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. 12 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,199 Speaker 1: She said there are a host of influences that have 13 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:48,560 Speaker 1: shaped the concept of breakfast, from older Christian beliefs, socioeconomics, 14 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:53,279 Speaker 1: trade technology, medical theory, and constructs of nutrition convenience in marketing, 15 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: to name a few. The history of what Americans considered 16 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: to be breakfast food a trace as its roots back 17 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:05,440 Speaker 1: hundreds or even thousands of years. Things like eggs, sausages, 18 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: and a version of pancakes were typical in ancient Rome, 19 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: though few people at that time eight early in the 20 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: morning and of course, although some foods have stayed the 21 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: breakfast course, the meal has also changed significantly. The Forest said, fish, beer, 22 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:22,959 Speaker 1: and wine could be found on the table going back 23 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:25,320 Speaker 1: to the medieval period in addition to foods that we 24 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: see today, eggs, bacon, bread, and cheese. Conversely, porridges, oatmeal, 25 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: and other grains would be consumed across meals and not 26 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:38,479 Speaker 1: regulated to only the breakfast meal. But things changed during 27 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: the Industrial Revolution as people began to have less time 28 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 1: to devote to meals. Forest said, breakfast is often necessarily fast, 29 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: and the foods that are served for breakfast need to 30 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: be able to be prepared quickly. Time is just one 31 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: of the factors that's shaped what Americans know as breakfast. 32 00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: The rest of the story can be told through the 33 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: foods themselves. Take bacon and eggs, for example, that was 34 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 1: a PR stunt. The story goes like this. In the 35 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,639 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties, beech Nut Packing Company wanted to get more 36 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: people to eat bacon. A beech Nut was a producer 37 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: of lots of foods at the time, including chewing gum, peanut, butter, 38 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:22,839 Speaker 1: and pork. The company hired PR consultant Edward Burnet's, who 39 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: just happened to be the nephew of Sigmund Freud. They 40 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,800 Speaker 1: found that most Americans ate light breakfasts, so beech nuts. 41 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: New campaign suggested a heavy breakfast would be healthier quote 42 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: because the body loses energy during the night and needs 43 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: it during the day. That message was spread in newspapers 44 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: around the country, and wouldn't you know, sales of bacon 45 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: began to skyrocket, and soon eggs and bacon were married forever. 46 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: Cold cereal has an even stranger history. It got its 47 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,239 Speaker 1: start as a health food served to patients in sanatoriums, 48 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: that is, facilities where people went for long treatment stays 49 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:02,360 Speaker 1: for me told or physical health. They were more like 50 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: retreats than hospitals. Dr John Kellogg yes that. Kellogg ran 51 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: a sanatorium in Battle Creek, Michigan, and made a type 52 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: of granola out of wheat, corn meal, and oats, though 53 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,799 Speaker 1: it was pretty much nothing like the granola we know today, 54 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: as it had no sugar or fat added. Nonetheless, Kellogg's 55 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: granola was so popular as a purportedly purifying cure all 56 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,080 Speaker 1: health food that he was selling two tons a week 57 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 1: by nine. Because oates have to be soaked and then cooked, 58 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: Kellogg needed to develop something faster and easier to serve 59 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: at a sanatorium. His brother will Keith Kellogg helped experiment 60 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: with granola and they developed a process to make crispy 61 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: wheat flakes, the first flaky cereal. Four years later they 62 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: were selling toasted corn flakes, and cold cereal was born. 63 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 1: Will Keith wanted to add sugar to the cereal, something 64 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: his brother strongly disagreed with, so Will Keith left and 65 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: started the company that would eventually become the Kellogg Company. 66 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: The success of breakfast cereals in the US is much 67 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: more than a story of health food, though, it's another 68 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: example of the power of marketing. Forrest said, Dr Kellogg 69 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: promoted his corn flakes as healthy and spread his gospel 70 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 1: through cookbooks, public lectures, teaching kitchens, and marketing pamphlets. In 71 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: terms of the media, breakfast and breakfast foods have long 72 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: appeared in art and literature, and this can include advertisements 73 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: that appear in magazines and on television. Children in particular 74 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,720 Speaker 1: have been targeted by marketing through cross promotional advertising, and 75 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 1: as early as nineteen o nine offered prizes tied to 76 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: cereal boxes. By the time the twenty first century dawned, 77 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: cold cereal accounted for thirty five percent of breakfasts in America. 78 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:55,239 Speaker 1: By twenty eighteen, the business was worth billions. Americans alone 79 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: eight eight point five billion dollars worth of cold cereal 80 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: that year. Meanwhile, you can credit political resistance for America's 81 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: coffee obsession. Coffee is originally from what's now Ethiopia, and 82 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: no one is sure exactly when someone first brewed and 83 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: drank the stuff. Legend has it that a goatherd notices 84 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:17,919 Speaker 1: goats were extra perky after eating some particular berries, and 85 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: he decided to give it a try. English colonists in 86 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:25,480 Speaker 1: North America preferred tea, but after England began to heavily 87 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:28,839 Speaker 1: tax tea and the colonists responded with the Boston Tea Party, 88 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 1: drinking coffee became patriotic. Some also believed the coffee was medicinal. Later, 89 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: during the Civil War, soldiers on both sides wanted coffee 90 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: to keep them going, but Confederate soldiers often couldn't get 91 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 1: it and made substitutes out of dandelion roots or toasted 92 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: oak reseeds. Today, coffee is one of the most popular 93 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: drinks in the United States. The twenty nineteen Annual Report 94 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: from the National Coffee Association found sixty three percent of 95 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 1: Americans drink the stuff every single day. But let's talk 96 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: about orange juice. Until the mid nineteenth century, aside from tea, 97 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: the breakfast drink of champions was hard cider or beer, 98 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: a both very low and alcohol. Hardly anyone drank orange 99 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: juice or eight oranges at all because they were expensive 100 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,840 Speaker 1: and hard to get. But several things happened to make 101 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:23,359 Speaker 1: o J a popular breakfast drink in the early twentieth century. First, 102 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: railroads helped growers expand. A second, in the late nineteen twenties, 103 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: a scientist isolated vitamin C and identified oranges as a 104 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: great source of the vitamin. Then, in nineteen forty two, 105 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,680 Speaker 1: the U. S. Army offered tons of money to whatever 106 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: company could figure out how to produce frozen orange juice 107 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: that actually tasted good. Enter Richard Morse. He became the 108 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: first to commercially produce frozen orange juice concentrate. His brand, 109 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: Minute Made, became a huge success and made orange juice 110 00:06:56,200 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: and attainable morning must have. Even though o J remained 111 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,479 Speaker 1: it's popular, it's not what eased to be. Today Americans 112 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: are drinking about three gallons. That's eleven lids less per 113 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: person per year than we were in the year two thousand, 114 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: mainly because people are concerned about its nutritional content. Juices 115 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: are sugary, after all. Now, where's my breakfast doughnut? Today's 116 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article why are certain foods 117 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: eaten mainly at breakfast? On how stuffworks dot com, written 118 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: by Sean Chavis. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart 119 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:33,320 Speaker 1: Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com, and 120 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:36,280 Speaker 1: it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from my 121 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 1: heart Radio visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 122 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.