# no vegetables for breakfast-- why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 17, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203 "2017-06-17T14:53:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/102 "2017-06-20T13:02:41Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Those are fenugreek leaves. It’s called _methi paratha_. Or _(methi) thepla_, although that may be just another word for the sane thing, depending on where you are.(My understanding is thepla are Gujarati.) There’s versions made with other greens like spinach or bathua, instead of or in addition to methi (fenugreek leaves.) Really yummy stuff and pretty easy to make. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/103 "2017-06-20T13:30:46Z")
Eggs poached in salsa, served on a tortilla with cheese, sour cream and chopped green onions and cilantro is one of my favourite weekend breakfasts. Bonus points for any of the salsa ingredients being home grown, or just market fresh. Too time consuming and sloppy for a work day breakfast, when I need something quick and easy, but definitely includes vegetables, however defined. In a similar vein - I make a layered tortilla, refried bean, salsa, vegetables (any or all of corn, peppers, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, with cheese on top pie that is delicious reheated the next morning with a runny fried egg on top. While not absolutely necessary, extra chopped tomato, cilantro and green onion on top make it that much more delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/104 "2017-06-20T13:34:16Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Those are fenugreek leaves. It’s called _methi paratha_. You can stuff parathas with all kinds of things. I make 'em with garlic. If you use green onions, it becomes a Chinese _congyoubing_. Fenugreek is a popular one, but I’ve also seen them with mint leaves, spinach or with, I think, _Amaranthus_ leaves. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/105 "2017-06-20T13:42:59Z")
Potato cakes are common at English breakfasts, often as [bubble & squeak](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3033/bubble-and-squeak-cakes), with cabbage or spinach instead of sprouts. Again, this is often a way of using the previous night’s left-overs. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/106 "2017-06-21T12:35:08Z")
Well it seems a lot of (American?) breakfast options have obvious appeal… The saltiness of porks, sweetness of doughnuts or cereal or fruit, etc. Vegetables are… well their strongest hand is their nutritional value. I don’t think people biologically crave spinach, it’s just we’ve figured out we need it. Add in that for the longest time what food would last a while mattered. So, I’d guess up until fairly recently seeing someone who wasn’t a farmer or similarly rural having vegetables regularly at any meal. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/107 "2017-06-21T13:03:31Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > I don’t think people biologically crave spinach, it’s just we’ve figured out we need it. It’s possible to aesthetically crave them though, isn’t it? I mean, I love cauliflower - I really like it; when I eat it, I am primarily doing so because I like it. But it would be unusual for me to eat it at breakfast. I think that’s just cultural inertia, not biological imperative. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/108 "2017-06-21T21:59:50Z")
> [@ioioio](#): > > Soup for breakfast is almost unheard of in the U.S., but from what I’ve seen, it’s common in Asian cultures. LENA (to waiter): Can you wrap up all the left-overs on the table, please? I always take the left-overs. I work in a soup kitchen every morning at 6 a.m. JERRY: They serve soup at 6 a.m.? LENA: Yeah. That’s all they have. JERRY: Do the bums ever complain? “Soup again?” ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/109 "2017-06-21T23:45:52Z")
One impetus behind Western breakfasts diverging substantially from other meals was Enlightenment-era theories of metabolism, which thought of the stomach as a furnace or a fermentation vat; the system was obviously at its lowest ebb in the morning, having run all night on the remnants of dinner, and so dietary hygene proscribed eating foods thought to inhibit metabolism (such as vegetables) on an empty stomach, in favor of “hot-burning” fuels such as sugar, fats, and starches. Another component of America’s weird breakfast habits is the happy intersection of late-19th and early-20th century health fads with industrial food production and marketing of the same eras, which brought us such previously-unknown but now-stereotypical breakfast food as puffed grains (and pretty much every other kind of breakfast cereal, from cornflakes to shredded wheat) and orange juice. Oddly enough, boxed dry cereals and “instant” hot cereals were initially promoted as easy, quick meals for anytime, and often as [simple dinners for children](http://www.vintagerecipeblog.com/2011/10/ad-quaker-puffed-cereals.html). Also, to the pedants arguing about definitions, potatoes and dry corn are traditionally treated as starches in Western cooking, not vegetables. You would not serve potatoes or polenta over rice or between slices of bread. > [@scr4](#): > > Try a google image search for “Japanese breakfast” and you’ll see it almost always includes vegetable side dishes and pickled vegetables. And often soup with some vegetables in it. Even the “western” breakfast served in Japan usually includes vegetables - e.g. the second photo [here](http://www.mito-keiseihotel.com/restaurant/discalo/discalo_breakfast_lunch). The Japanese are convinced that a Western-style breakfast [includes a side salad](https://itadakimasuanime.wordpress.com/2015/12/17/12-days-of-anime-2015-food-edition-day-4/). I once went to a convention featuring an appearance by a Japanese author; she tweeted a picture of her hotel breakfast buffet with a comment that no vegetables were available, evidence of Americans’ poor diet… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/110 "2017-06-22T00:31:12Z")
There’s actually a way in which potatoes and such aren’t considered veggies, either. There is a context where starchy vegetables don’t count. Neither do fruits, which, in this context, means sufficiently sweet vegetables and not biological fruits. Nuts also aren’t counted, because they are protein. Onions count only if used for more than flavoring. There are way too many different ways the term is used to define one correct one. But one that actually excludes all biological fruits is one I’ve never actually heard in the wild. What I find interesting is the mix of English and Continental breakfast, and how people can really like one over the other. I prefer the English one. I’m big on protein and starch, but not on sweets. Sweets are only filling to me if I eat enough to feel somewhat sick. Protein and starch are far better at satiating the intense hunger I have every morning upon waking. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/111 "2017-06-22T18:48:09Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > There’s actually a way in which potatoes and such aren’t considered veggies, either. There is a context where starchy vegetables don’t count. Neither do fruits, which, in this context, means sufficiently sweet vegetables and not biological fruits. Nuts also aren’t counted, because they are protein. Onions count only if used for more than flavoring. We could simplify this impossible confusion by cutting its Gordian knot: Vegetables do not exist. (I’m thinking of Natacha Atlas’s song “[Fun, baby, does not exist](https://youtu.be/oXg61YISQtw).” They are all figments of our imagination. But, paradoxically, figs aren’t figments. Figs are real, baby. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/112 "2017-06-22T22:40:35Z")
Asparagus would not be out of place, especially next to something like an eggs Benedict. I can’t even come up with a reason why asparagus is breakfast fare but cauliflower or broccoli is not. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/113 "2017-06-23T13:55:21Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > And yet potatoes are a common component in American breakfasts. We boil water for coffee, we boil oats, we boil eggs. Not seeing a huge impediment here, especially since potatoes can be left-overs (e.g., potato cakes from mashed potatoes). > > In Japan, a common breakfast will have some rice and some pickled vegetables. Also some seaweed and fish. One favorite dish is to take a small bowl of rice and crack an egg into it, letting the heat of the rice cook the egg. Mmmmm, potato cakes. Yum. Breakfast buffet in a government-owned Beijing hotel - intimidating. Weird pickled caterpillars or possibly caterpillar-shaped plant bits. Big bowls of snot. Big bowls of curdled eyeballs. Large plates of bakery goods heated at far too low a temperature by people who confused ‘pastry’ with ‘pasty white’. Failed cereals that I suspect were just very old. It was an extremely obvious split between proper chinese breakfast items the staff understood, and weird crap that westerners demanded and which the locals did their best to prepare according to poorly translated packaging. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Congee. I always think of it as “juk”, which is what it’s called as a dim sum dish. It’s rice porridge. ! That’s what the snot turned out to be. Cold. Not inspiring. The eyeballs turned out to be lychees and absolutely delicious with yoghurt. I lived on them for three days and gorged myself on fresh bread when we finally made it to the Radisson in Shangai. > [@johnspartan](#): > > Asparagus would not be out of place, especially next to something like an eggs Benedict. Bah. Eggs Florentine - tasty and vegetably. Or tasty and leafy, depending on who you ask. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/114 "2017-06-23T15:01:39Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Congee. I always think of it as “juk”, which is what it’s called as a dim sum dish. It’s rice porridge. Pretty bland unless you put something in/on it. But warms your belly on a cold winter morning! If you count congee as soup then so should oatmeal. Come to think of it, cereal with milk should qualify as well. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203/115 "2017-06-24T02:00:26Z")
[An interesting history of “breakfast”](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/06/breakfast-the-most-contentious-meal-of-the-day/487220/) for the interested. (At least a history of Western breakfast.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vegetables-for-breakfast-why/789203.md?page=5)