I have had epic breakfast buffets on my travels, many of them ranking to be the best meal of the day, or of several days. I don’t turn them down when they are included in the hotel rate, but I also never pay extra for them. One doesn’t travel to eat in the hotel; one goes out to experience what the country has to offer, and breakfast is one of the best displays of local food. If breakfast is not auto-included with your accommodations, go out to have it. It can be immensely rewarding.
Consider the culinary plight of not just the traveler but also the expatriate. Those who study the social sciences have long noted that a person placed into another culture will easily eat local food for dinner. Dinner is wide open; we’re used to that. We easily ask our friends about dinner, “What do you feel like eating? Thai? Italian? Ethiopian?” Lunch is a bit closer to home, but still mostly open. One could do Thai or Italian for lunch, although the default may be a sandwich. Breakfast is different.
Breakfast for most people in the world today is likely to be at home, or something portable. We don’t go out for breakfast much in everyday life, and we certainly don’t think Thai or Italian, unless we really are Thai or Italian. If we’re not, we probably don’t even know what those countries eat in the morning. Again, social scientists note that expatriates hold on to their native foods for breakfast, no matter where they live. They’ll change dinner and lunch, but they don’t go local much in the morning.
Since you’re a traveler and probably not an expatriate, I’m going to suggest that you go out for breakfast, and go local. Part of this is the pure cultural experience. You have at least three chances a day while traveling to experience local food (if you’re one of those types who strangely feels people should limit themselves to a mere three meals a day). Don’t give up a third of them.
Every morning in hotels around the world, bleary-eyed travelers sit near silently at small tables gently consuming whatever the hotel decides to put out. Coffee or tea, some buns, some eggs, a few sweet things, more.
This is mostly all I need to start the day in France
In places like Europe, I don’t want to sit at my hotel. I’d rather find a café and pay for those things; they won’t cost much and I get the challenge of navigating the café’s system one more time. I get the chance to practice my French/Spanish/Italian morning dialog and I get to watch the rest of the café, seeing the counterman stack the croissants, the bread delivery, the waitress making coffee, the rest of the patrons discussing things. In my hotel breakfast room, there’s no scene to watch and I often feel like I’m wasting time.
One morning long ago found me in Paris, standing at the café counter having yes a coffee and croissant. At the end of the counter was an elderly couple having their morning glass of wine, sipping out of tiny, tiny glasses. They were in an animated discussion with the counterman. Opinions were raised and options discussed. They were discussing which type of wine they should consume next. “These are my people,” I decided.
Stepping into a small place for breakfast in a language you don’t understand may still be one of the easiest foreign encounters you navigate during the day. They know you are there to eat breakfast and the menu will not be extensive. Some places may have a mere three choices. One morning in Malaysia, I negotiated breakfast at some tiny local eating establishment. After fumbling with some words, the woman and I connected over one common word we could agree upon.
“Breakfast?” I asked her.
“Ah, breakfast!” she confirmed.
That’s all she needed, an affirmation of a sanction for breakfast. She grabbed a banana leaf, put rice on it, some tiny fried fish, cucumber slices and an egg, and poured some sambal over the top. That’s breakfast, that’s what it is. Breakfast she can do. The handful was mine for about 30 cents U.S., and everyone was happy.
Breakfast in the hand
Elsewhere in East Asia, the noodle soup reigns supreme in the morning. In Kuching, on the island of Borneo, a tiny stand sat near my hotel served up laksa, one of my favorite breakfast foods. It’s a spicy coconut milk-based curry broth, filled with rice noodles, bean sprouts, and your choice of protein. Yes, it’s boiling hot there and near 100% humidity and you’re eating a spicy broth, crying and sweating, and it’s so good. Serve me up a white-hot ladle of doom. Needing a shower after breakfast is a small price to pay.
Vietnamese phơ is increasingly popular in the U.S., but in Vietnam, it’s a breakfast food, the stock having simmered all night long. The street vendor, and you should always eat it on the street, will cut your protein choices so thin that the heat of the broth alone will cook them.
In Guilin, China, my friends and I would stop at noodle places where the vendor would fill a bowl for us together with a bit of broth, then we would add our own toppings, like a salad bar. I couldn’t figure out how such a simple formula made such a brilliant bowl of goodness. Another option was in the park near my little flophouse where a stand sold pumpkin fritters.
Another popular Chinese breakfast food is congee, usually described as rice gruel. Take yesterday’s leftover rice and cook it in extra water or broth until it’s soft and mushy, then add things on top. Perhaps proteins, but also pickled vegetables, peanuts, fried dough sticks. I admit that among all these foods, congee is one I’ve never grown to like, though I’ve tried many times. It’s probably the tactile sensation of that mushy rice.
Laksa, breakfast soup in Borneo. This will make you happy.
All these morning options mean you must get yourself assembled and venture out, tasks you may not be up for first thing in the day, but breakfast places don’t expect you to look your best, and they’re good with silence. A breakfast place should be near your flophouse, not across the city, and thus you don’t have to fully assemble yourself, ready for a full day’s outing, just to eat breakfast.
If you’re the type never to eat breakfast, then just change your habits. Yes, you were up until 01:30 last night drinking too much wine, because you’re on vacation, but you need something in your stomach right now. You need your energy. Besides that laksa soup, most breakfasts don’t challenge your taste buds much.
Perhaps the best breakfast option is heading to the market, because markets are always open earlier than you get up and they so often have food. A few months ago I was staying on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, and heading to the Olivar Market for breakfast was a joy. I’d go straight to the seafood section, where a selection of tapas and pintxos waited, or I could pick out pans of seafood they would sizzle up. Being the seafood section, sushi choices were common as well. A plate of shrimp with baby eels and a glass of sparkling wine is a fine, fine way to start the day.
Even simple markets will often have a few stands where food is available diner-style. You sit at stools at their counter and they’ll scoop things up for you. Spanish food culture makes this easy, due to the tapas tradition, but in other countries as well people working around the market have to eat, and there will be something for them, and for you.
Breakfast in the market, Mallorca
In expensive countries, take breakfast at your hotel. I wrote a story earlier about how to visit Switzerland without going broke, and one suggestion is always hit your hotel’s little breakfast buffet, both because it won’t be cheap going out for breakfast and because everyone there will also be busy making and tucking away sandwiches for lunch. Lunch for us every day there was bread and fillings we had nicked from breakfast.
In Japan, I look for hotels that include breakfast, but if they don’t, it’s off to a convenient store for a few sushi rice balls and a coffee. The sushi will be wrapped in plastic from the day before, and the coffee is in a can, but they both rock. The can will be heated perfectly for you, and the rice is magically fresh. The store will have a counter and chairs for you.
In cheaper countries, don’t munch the first meal of the day at the hotel. If breakfast is not included, the surcharge to eat it there will be crazy for what you get, perhaps 16 euro for coffee, buns, bread, and some protein. No no, go out. If you don’t know where to go, just walk a bit. A café-like establishment will appear, with some people inside already eating. Go in and conquer it.
